


Little Reflections

by bideanie, posiesandroses



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Actor Castiel, Alpha Castiel, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Carpenter Dean, Castiel and Dogs, Chubby Dean, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dom/sub Undertones, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Famous Castiel, Fluff, Jealousy, Kid Fic, Knotting, Laketown, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Omega Dean, Past Rape/Non-con, Possessive Castiel, Possessive Dean, Protective Castiel, Rich Castiel, Single Parent Dean, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Touch-Starved Dean, at times - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-02 07:06:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5239058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bideanie/pseuds/bideanie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/posiesandroses/pseuds/posiesandroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean doesn't need an alpha. He and his daughter, Riley, have been fine by themselves for this long, why change anything?</p><p>Except, Gabriel and Riley keep asking Dean when he's going to get her another dad, and being the last omega in their friend group to get mated is getting old fast. So, maybe having someone else along for the ride <i> could </i> be fun, but after a rocky past, Dean isn't sure if he can trust anyone enough to let them around his family; especially not enigmatic actor Castiel Novak- who can't seem to keep out of the tabloids for more than five minutes. He's the last thing Dean needs, but maybe, what Dean wants might be more important than what he needs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Most of the fic is written by bideanie, while sex scenes and the raunchyness is written by posiesandroses. We hope you enjoy the fic! 
> 
> (Quick note on Riley: we've written her to talk like that because she has a lisp, not because we think all children her age speak like that. She has a speech impediment that will be explored in later chapters)

 

There’s not a lot of things that Dean Winchester wouldn’t do for his daughter- including taking her to the zoo several times a month, dressing up as a ballerina to help her practice, and singing to her in funny voices. He would even eat cake instead of pie for her, but thankfully, she’d inherited his affinity for pie and would probably eat it for every mealtime if she could.  What he will not do, though, is let her badger him into going on a blind date, to find them both an alpha.

Of course, she didn’t come up with the idea all by herself. The culprits, as always, are Sam and Gabriel.

Sometimes, Dean wishes he’d been born an only child.

“How about that guy over there, Dean-o?” Gabriel asks, nodding towards a balding man in the corner, in the middle of filling a paper bag with pick-your-own candy.

Dean rolls his eyes, going back to the picture of Hercules that he’d been in the middle of coloring. “Anyone ever tell you you’re the worst wingman ever?” Dean replies. “Dude’s like thirty years older than me.”

“Daddy, you have an excuthe for _everythin’_.” Riley sighs from her place next to him, where she’s alternating between coloring and stuffing her little face with the free candy that Gabriel gives her.  There _are_ perks to having a sugar-crazed omega with a candy store-slash-ice cream parlor for an uncle, after all.

“Yeah, you tell ‘im, Riley,” Gabriel grins, reaching into one of the jars on the counter and pulling out some gummy bears, sliding them to Riley. “Your daddy is just scared because he knows he’s gonna be alone forever.”

“Put a cork in it, short stack.” Dean mutters, shooting Gabriel a glare. Sometimes Dean wonders why he’s even friends with the guy. “I’ll find a mate when the time’s right.”

“You’re thirty-five, bucko, your time is nearly out!” Gabriel exclaims. "I'm only looking out for my favorite brother-in-law."

“Yeah, well, not all of us get mated at twenty.” Dean shoots back.

“Please, Krissy will be mated before you are.” Gabriel teases. Dean doesn’t reply- because Krissy probably _will_ get mated before Dean ever does- she might only be sixteen but she’s just as mature as her father. (Sam, _not_ Gabriel. She’s been far more mature than Gabriel ever since hitting eight years old.)

“Maybe you could date mister Alfie,” Riley suggests.

“You know I can’t date your teacher, Riley. It’s against the rules.” Dean tells her, making her sigh once more. He doesn’t bother pointing out that her teacher is also an omega.

It’s been a recurring theme in their afternoon conversations, lately. Sam and Gabriel had somehow convinced her that Dean is in dire need of a mate, and soon. Riley wanting a second dad is also a major factor.

“I told ya’, Dean-o,” Gabriel says around a mouthful of bon bons, “I could set you up with my baby brother. He could sure use an omega to ground him a lil’.”

Dean imagines for a few seconds what Gabriel’s brother could be like, before making a horrified face. “Yeah, no way. One Milton is enough for me.” 

Before Gabriel can protest, Krissy is coming up behind him, snatching an unopened lollipop from his hands and throwing her book bag under the counter.  “Hi, Riley.” She greets, kissing Riley on the cheek, making the girl giggle. Sam follows behind her a moment later, kissing Riley in the same way before walking over to Gabriel and wrapping his arms around him.

“Hey, kiddo.” Gabriel leans forward to ruffle Krissy’s hair, snatching the lollipop back from her as he does so. “Not before homework, Kay, you know that.” He then stands on his tip-toes to kiss Sam on the cheek. “Hey, babe.”

Krissy rolls her eyes. “I’ve already _done_ my homework.”

“Nerd.” Dean coughs into his hands, making Krissy reach over the counter and flick his ear. “Just like your alpha dad, huh, Kay?” 

Krissy and Sam both give him matching bitch faces.

“Can I go to the movies tonight?” Krissy asks, turning towards her dads. “Imogen and I wanna see the new Castiel Novak movie.”

Gabriel makes a weird expression, before quickly schooling his face once more. “Uh, sure. Remember your curfew, though.”

“’kay, thanks, dad!” She grins.

“Castiel Novak, huh?” Sam asks. “Isn’t that the intense guy that’s always out partying?”

“Not _always_ …” Krissy defends. “He’s just in with the wrong crowd, that’s all.”

“Wait,” Dean cuts in, “Wasn’t he the one in the news the other week for filling his pool with jell-o and crashing a helicopter?” He doesn’t really follow the whole celebrity scene, but he’d have to have been living under a rock to not hear about the guy’s exploits. Dean’s never seen one of his movies, but they seem to be a hit with teenagers.

Krissy shrugs. “Probably. If I followed all of the crazy stuff he does I’d have no free time left to actually see his movies.”

Gabriel, who seems to be turning more uncomfortable by the second, suddenly slams the jar of toffee curls that he’d been holding down on the counter, startling the others. “Let’s talk about something else.”

Sam, Krissy and Dean all look at him curiously, but let it slide.

“Sure. Let’s talk about the car you’re going to get me for my birthday.” Krissy grins, making her fathers groan.

 

After dropping Riley off at school, Dean spends his weekdays in the workshop he and Benny had built by the lake. The building is beautiful, if he does say so himself; with towering bay windows and a faded sign above the door reading _Winchester and Lafitte Carpentry_. It had opened when they were both twenty, and business had been strong ever since. They’ve several workers; Ash, Andy and Adam, and together, they work on houses and furniture. Sometimes, though, Dean will take on a special project himself- such as the sailing boat he’s been in the middle of working on for the past few months. He’d found an old boat and revamped it to make it prettier  and hole-free, and now  the boat is dark, cherry-mahogany in color, with a large, billowing sail that Charlie had made. Dean is jealous of his client, just a little. The boat is beautiful, and it’ll hurt not being able to take it for at least one joy-ride.

“Hey, brother,” Benny greets as he walks through the door, waving the brown paper bag in his hand at Dean. “Brought ya’ some lunch, wanna eat it with me?”

“It’s not even lunch time, Ben-” Dean trails off, hands pausing on the rim of the boat he’s in the middle of polishing. Benny points at the clock above the door, which is pointing out that it’s in fact almost two o’clock. “Oh.”

“C’mon, we’ll sit on the dock and eat,” Benny suggests. “Ellen told me to force the burger down your throat if you don’t want it. You haven’ been taking care of yourself, apparently.”

Dean makes a face. He knows that Ellen’s just worried about him, but it’s irritating at the same time. He’s tired of everyone discussing him, Ellen and his mom especially, as though he’s depressed, or a hermit or something.

Dean is _just fine_ , thank you very much.

“I’ll eat.” Dean promises, before peeling off the top half of his overalls, leaving just the old t-shirt he’d had on beneath. 

Benny grins, tossing him the paper bag as they make their way outside. It’s sunny, as it often is in California, with only a slight breeze coming off of the lake. They sit on the wooden dock outside of the workshop, where they’d placed a couple of benches that they’d built themselves. It’s Dean’s favorite place to be.

Dean sighs as he sits down, basking in the warm glow of the sun as he relaxes for the first time that day. A lot of people say that omega’s shouldn’t have hands-on jobs like carpentry, and should just stick to worrying about their children and homes, but Dean won’t have any of that sexism. Sure, it’s hard work, but he can do it just as well as any alpha or beta can.

Benny sits next to him, pulling out his own food. They eat in silence for a while, reveling in their surroundings.

“I saw Aaron at the grocery store.” Benny says, simply, once they’ve finished.

Dean turns his head. “So?”

“ _So,_ you didn’t tell me he was mated to someone else.”

Dean sighs, wiping his hands on his overalls. “Didn’t think it was something you’d be interested in.” He tells Benny, even though he knows it’s not the truth. Dean hadn’t wanted to tell anyone because he knew they’d _pity_ him, feel sorry for him at the fact his ex-boyfriend is married to another omega. A _pregnant_ one, at that, but Dean won’t mention that unless Benny brings it up himself.

“That’s a lie, brother,” Benny definitely knows him too well. “’s it bother you?”

Dean ignores the fact that Aaron is the last person he knows to get mated. Now, everyone in their friends group has a mate, except Dean. It doesn’t bother him as much as it seems to bother other people, his mom and brother especially. Dean doesn’t see the problem of being single, but apparently, everyone else does.

“No.” Dean answers, and Benny raises an unimpressed eyebrow at him. “Fine, okay, maybe a little, but he just wasn’t _it_. I guess I just miss the idea of him, or somethin’.”

Benny gives him a measuring glance. “Maybe you should join one o’ those alpha-omega dating sites.” He tells him, only slightly joking.

“No way,” Dean grimaces. He’d rather be alone forever than meet an alpha like that. They could be serial killers, for all he knows! If Riley wasn’t in the picture, Dean might have considered it, but inviting an alpha he’d met online anywhere near his daughter isn’t something he ever wants to try. “I don’t know why you all need me to get mated so bad, I’m doing just fine on my own, Benny.”

“You shouldn’t have to be just fine. You should be happy.”

“I can be happy without an alpha.” Dean mutters.

“Sure ya’ can, sugar, but you’re not.” Benny shrugs, as though it’s a simple fact. “And neither is yer pup.”

“Whatever,” Dean sighs, standing up and putting his arms back into the sleeves of his overalls. “I need to get back to work. The client’s comin’ to check the boat next week.”

Benny watches Dean walk away, lips pursed.

****   


Even though Dean loves his job, his weekends alone with Riley are his favorite thing. On Saturdays, they’ll always do something exciting; like going to the zoo, or out on Uncle Sam’s boat, or to the movies. It always ends up with them exhausted, probably ordering take-out, and passing out on the couch.  Sundays, however, are the exact opposite. They’ll sleep until ten, maybe have brunch with Mary, and spend the rest of the day being lazy. Sometimes they’ll watch movies, or they’ll paint on the coffee table, or have tea parties in Riley’s room while Dean wears a pink bonnet. When they do watch movies, Riley always gets to pick the movie, while Dean picks the snacks, and they’ll sit on the couch, Riley often cuddled in Dean’s lap. It’s when Dean is happiest.

This Saturday, Riley decided that she wanted to go to the zoo, _again_. It’s been her favorite past time for the last few months, ever since they’d started learning about animals in school.

“Daddy! Look at the tiger!” Riley squeals, so loud that the tiger lifts its head up to look at her from where it’s lying on a rock. “It’th lookin’ at me!”

“She’s saying hello,” Dean tells her, grinning at the excited look on his daughter’s face. 

“Hi!” Riley calls, waving. “Tigerth are my thecond favoritetht animal ever!” She declares, glancing at Dean with a large grin, the gap in her front teeth flashing, before turning her attention back on the tiger.

“Oh? Then what’s your favorite?”

“Beeth.” She answers surely. Dean smiles at the answer, reaching out to run a hand through her hair. “Mr Bee is my motht favorite bee.” She adds. Mr Bee, a bee plushy that’s as old as Riley is, had been a gift from Mary when Riley had been born. It’s been her favorite plushy ever since.

“Bees, huh?” Dean asks. “Maybe we can go check out a bee farm one day.” He tells her. He isn’t sure if bee farm is the correct term, bee hive, maybe? He wonders if they make those bee keeper outfits for children, because the last thing he wants is for Riley to get stung and put her off bees forever.

“Really, daddy?” Riley shrieks, jumping up and down quickly before reaching out to hug one of Dean’s legs. “We can go for my birthday!”

“Your birthday is still two months away, Riley.” Dean reminds her. Dean definitely hasn’t forgotten- he can’t believe that she’s going to be _seven_ , soon. Before he knows it, she’s going to be moving out and going to college.

Riley puts her hands on her hips, humming thoughtfully. “Then maybe we can go for _your_ birthday, daddy!”

“My birthday is _eight_ months away,” Dean chuckles. “We don’t need an excuse, Riles. We can visit the bees whenever we want.”

Riley shakes her head. “No, daddy. Beeth farmth are thpecial. We gotta thave it for a thpecial occathion.” She frowns at Dean over-dramatically, as if daring him to go against her.

“Okay, sweetheart, we’ll wait.” He grins.

“Yay!” Riley throws her arms up, cheering. “Daddy, come down here, I need ta’ tell you thomethin’”

Dean crouches next to her, head tilted away so she can whisper in his ear. Riley leans forward, before quickly kissing Dean on his stubbled cheek and whispering: “You’re the betht daddy.”

Dean smiles at her, pulling away slightly so he can kiss her forehead, feeling as though his heart is about to burst. “You’re the best daughter.” He tells her sincerely.

Riley grins, holding up her hand for a high five. Dean complies without a thought.

****   


On Monday, Dean’s alone in the workshop, thankfully. He hasn’t spoken to Benny since their lunch last week, and he’s glad that Benny’s not there to make things awkward. Benny and the guys have gone to do an on-site job on the other side of town, while Dean is stuck waiting for his client to check up on their boat. Once the client approves, Dean can call for Rufus to pick it up and transport it to wherever the client wants it.

Dean will be sad to see the boat go. If he’s lucky, the client might ask him to take the boat out on the lake for a test-run, but he won’t hold his breath. He’ll just have to wait until he can borrow Sam’s boat to go out on the lake.

Dean decides to work on Riley’s birthday present- one of them, anyway- while he waits. It’s been a work in progress for a few months, seeing as he can only work on it while he’s not doing anything else. Once it’s finished, it’ll be a big playhouse, big enough that Riley and Dean can sleep inside it, if they want, and have tea parties there, too.

Dean hopes that giving her the playhouse will make her stop asking for a puppy or a bee hive, at least for a little while. He knows that at the moment they don’t really have anywhere ideal to put it, seeing as they live in an apartment, but Dean figures they can put it in the guest room until they upgrade to a house at some point.

After a while of working, Dean is completely focused on is project, and therefore doesn’t hear someone coming through the door. What tips him off is the incredible, _intoxicating_ smell that suddenly envelops him.

Startled, Dean looks up, only to see a tall man standing in the doorway of the workshop, bright blue eyes scanning his surroundings intensely.

“Uh...hey?” Dean calls, nasally, trying to speak without breathing through his nose. The last thing he needs is to start leaking slick in front of a stranger because of a scent.

The man turns to Dean, nostrils flaring slightly before he composes himself once more. He puts his hands in the pockets of his slacks and walks over. “Hello.” He says, voice strong, sure, and undeniably _alpha_. Even if Dean couldn’t scent him, he’d know the man’s designation just by the tone of his voice and the cock of his eyebrow. “I’m here to pick up my boat.”

Dean frowns, he’s sure that the order sheet for the boat is under a woman’s name.

“It’s under my assistant’s name.” The man adds. “Hannah Morgan.”

Dean’s eyes widen. _This_ is the person who’d commissioned the beautiful sailing boat? Dean had been expecting some old, rich and retired beta woman looking for something fun to do in her spare time, not this; this blue eyed, beautiful alpha.

“Oh…” Dean lets out, eloquent as always. The alpha raises an eyebrow, making Dean blush. “I mean, um- yeah. The boat’s on the trailer out back.” He tells him, jerking a thumb towards the door.

“I’d like to see it.” The alpha states, and Dean feels his cheeks burning even more. He’s usually a lot more professional than this, but there’s something about this guy that’s making him go haywire.

“Yeah- I, sure.” Dean smiles. He gestures for the alpha to follow him, and they make their way through the back door to the lot out back. It’s mostly empty, only Dean’s impala, the sailing boat and one of their white vans with _Winchester and Lafitte_ emblazoned across the side occupying it.

Dean turns to the alpha, trying to see his reaction, but his face is as smooth as a marble statue, no tells to show Dean what he’s thinking.

The alpha walks over to the boat, running his hand across the polished side. His eyes scan the length of the boat, narrowing as he takes in all the details. After a few seconds, he turns to Dean once more. “You did this?” He asks.

Dean’s throat goes dry. This has happened once before; an alpha coming to check their order and having a fit when they realize it had been built by an omega, as if that would make it bad quality, somehow. “I… yes,” Dean slowly admits after a moment.

The alpha nods, face as hard to read as it’d been a few minutes ago. He turns back to the boat and walks around it once, before walking over to Dean.

“Thank you-” The alpha’s eyes flicker down to the name tag on Dean’s chest. “Dean. The boat is… wonderful. My assistant will contact you with delivery details. You have done a very good job.” He smiles very slightly, more visible in his eyes than his lips, before turning on his heel and walking away, scent lingering in the air behind him.

Dean wonders what the hell had just happened.

****   


Later that day, Dean is so _, so_ glad when Charlie calls him and asks if he wants to hang out before he picks up Riley from school. He doesn’t think he could have lasted in the workshop for much longer, the handsome client’s scent still hanging in the air and driving him crazy.

He meets Charlie at her mate’s café-slash-bookstore down the street from Gabriel’s shop, their favorite place to hang out. It’s where he met Charlie, both of them reaching for the same book and ending up fighting over it, before deciding they could share it, instead. It sounds vaguely like a plot to a romance movie, which makes Dean laugh whenever he thinks of it.

“Hey, nerd.” Dean greets Charlie when he joins her, sitting at their regular table; the one in the corner with the patched booth and scratched surface.

Charlie raises a finger, quickly finishing the page she’s in the middle of reading, before looking up at Dean and grinning. She sets the book, _The Martian_ , on the table next to an empty tea cup. She likes to sit here, when she’s not working, and read; while Dorothy works behind the counter. Ever since she’d gotten pregnant, she’d been wanting to stay near her mate at all times. It’s grounding, she claims, being able to scent her even when they’re not actually _with_ each other.

“Hey!” She greets, once she’s finished putting her things in place.

Dean sits opposite her, and Charlie quickly signals to Dorothy to bring them their usual. “How’re things with the, y’know-?” He gestures to her stomach.

“Awesome!” Charlie beams, her hand automatically reaching down to rest on her bump. “We went to the doctor’s yesterday.” She announces.

A sudden bubble of worry burst in Dean’s chest, but he immediately pushes the feeling away- if something bad had happened, Charlie wouldn’t be looking so happy. “And?” He goads.

“We’re having a boy!” She exclaims excitedly. Her grin is infectious- Dean feels his own smile splitting his face as he pictures him; a red-headed little boy, no doubt dressed in nerdy paraphernalia, with Dorothy’s bright eyes and both of their attitudes. 

“Congrats, dude,” He tells her, standing up and going around the table to give her a hug. “Feel free to call him Dean, or whatever.” He winks once he’s back in his seat. “Just don’t call him Hermion or something.”

Charlie sticks out her tongue at him. “We were thinking Darth, actually. Middle name Vader. Sounds cute, huh?”

Dean shrugs. He doesn’t think Darth is that bad. “Not Han?”

“Nah,” Charlie shrugs. “Darth Solo?”

Dean chuckles, running a hand down his face. “He would get bullied so bad.”

“Yeah, maybe I should stick to non-character names.” Charlie sighs, disappointed. “We’re actually thinking of Finley.”

“That’s what I was gonna call Riley if she’d been a guy,” Dean grins. “Copy-cat.”

 “Who’s a copy-cat?” Dorothy asks, loping over with Dean’s black-cinnamon coffee and a green tea for Charlie. She places them both down on the table, before kissing her mate on the cheek.

“Us, apparently.” Charlie answers, smiling up at Dorothy, looking like the epitome of sappy and in love. “Dean was going to call Riley Finley if she’d been a boy.”

“Well, you know great minds think alike and all that.” Dorothy tells her. She glances at Dean, before looking back at Charlie once more. “Did you ask him, yet?”

Dean frowns. “Ask me what?”

Charlie and Dorothy exchange a look, communicating with their expressions, before turning to Dean. Dorothy sits down on the edge of the booth beside Charlie, intertwining their hands. “We want you to be the god-omega,” Dorothy tells him, apprehensively. It’s not common to ask an unmated omega to be one of the god parents, looked down upon, in fact, but Charlie and Dorothy aren’t ones to listen to tradition.

“You-” Dean’s eyes are wide as he looks at them both, scanning their faces to test if they’re joking or not. “Really?”

“Of course, dummy,” Charlie tells him softly. “You’re amazing with Riley, and my best friend in the whole world. I don’t want anyone else.”

“But I'm not-”

“No, Dean,” Charlie says sternly. “It doesn’t matter to us if you’re not mated. Dorothy’s dad sure was annoyed at us when we told him, but who cares?”

“And who knows?” Dorothy adds, “You could get mated any day now.”

 _Unlikely,_ Dean thinks. It’s not exactly easy for an omega with children to find a mate, especially when they’re in their thirties and have miles of trust issues.

“Thanks, guys, really,” Dean tells them sincerely, opting to ignore Dorothy’s words for the time being. “I’d love to be the god-omega.”

Charlie grins, letting go of Dorothy and reaching for Dean’s hand. “Thank you.”

Dorothy nods in agreement. “It means a lot to us.” She tells him. “I need to get back to work.” Dorothy stands, kissing Charlie once more before making her way back to the counter.

“So…” Charlie drawls, and Dean knows exactly where she’s going with it because he _knows_ her. “Still nothing on the romance front, huh?”

“Charlie…” Dean warns in a low voice. She knows how much he despises talking about these things.

“Don’t you think it’s time?”

“Yes! Yes I do. In fact, I think right now is the perfect time. How about I go down to the alpha store and buy one right this second?” Dean snaps, and he immediately feels bad. “I-”

“It’s okay Dean, I’m not mad.” She tells him, and there it is, bright and obvious on her face; _pity_. Dean is going to be sick. “Maybe you could try-”

“If you tell me to use an alpha-omega dating site, Charlie, so help me god-”

“Fine, maybe not that, but at least go out and _look_! When was the last time you went anywhere without Riley that wasn’t Gabriel’s or here?”

“I went to the grocery store four days ago.” Dean mutters, knowing it’s not what Charlie was getting at.

“All I’m saying is you’ll never get a mate if you don’t try.” She says simply. “Don’t you want to be with someone? Find someone to share your life with? Find another dad for Riley?”

“Using the Riley card, huh? That’s _low_.” Dean snorts.

Charlie winks. “Gotta make you see sense somehow. Do you-” She pauses. “Is there anyone you’ve got your eye on, at least? Think anyone’s hot? Want someone’s thick, juicy-”

“Stop, _please_.” Dean groans, making Charlie laugh.

“You’re deflecting.” Charlie suddenly realizes with a smirk. “So you _do_ think someone’s hot! Is it Benny?”

“No.” Dean shakes his head. It’s a lie, though- he does think Benny is hot, but he’s completely unavailable- he’s been mated for years.

“Ash?”

“Just what I need, for Riley to ask for a mullet.” Dean snorts. “Nope.” _Been there, done that_ , he adds to himself.

Charlie slumps in her seat, defeated. “Who, then?” She asks, giving Dean puppy-dog eyes. “You can’t withhold information from a pregnant woman. It’s _wrong_.”

“Fine, fine. If I tell you can we talk about something else for the rest of the afternoon?” Dean compromises, and Charlie nods eagerly. “There was a guy- in the workshop. He ordered a boat.”

Charlie leans forward, almost buzzing with excitement. “And he was hot?”

Dean nods.

“And you wanted his thick man sausage?”

“Jesus christ, Charlie.” Dean groans again, covering his face with his hands. “Yes, he was hot and he smelt amazing and fuck-” Dean cuts himself off, blushing. He doesn’t want to wax poetic about the dude all day or Charlie will never let him live it down, even though he wants to. “It doesn’t matter, anyway, I’ll probably never see him again. I didn’t even get his _name_.”

Charlie looks sympathetic. “I guess if it’s meant to be it’ll be.”

 _Yeah_ , Dean thinks to himself, _that’s what I’m afraid of._

****   


A few days later, Dean is waiting for his mom to bring Riley home from a quick trip to the playground, when the front door slams open. Thundering footsteps echo through the apartment, and seconds later, Riley appears in the doorway of the living room, Mary behind her. Riley crosses her arms, frowning at Dean as though he’d just murdered thirty puppies right in front of her.

“Okay, lay it on me,” Dean declares, muting the TV and throwing up his hands, “What did I do this time?”

Riley stomps over, and slams a crumpled piece of paper down on the table in front of Dean before crossing her arms once again, a dangerous pout on her face. Dean scans the paper, eyebrows drawn together. _Save the bees rally!_ The title reads in yellow and black writing.

“ _When_ were you going to tell me about thith, daddy?” Riley yells, hitting the table with the palm of her hand. She crosses her arms, tapping her foot. Dean wonders when and _how_ she’d become such a little drama queen. “You are being very rude.” She adds, pointing an accusing finger at him. Mary snickers behind her, trying and failing to stifle her laughter behind her hands.

“Sweetheart, I didn’t even know-”

“I feel tho betrayed.” Riley sighs, plopping herself down onto the floor with her head in her hands.

Dean looks up at his mom exasperatedly, but Mary just shrugs. “You were like that when you were a kid, too, Dean,” She smiles. “Seems being dramatic is genetic.”

Dean rolls his eyes, before turning back to Riley. “If you want to go to the bee rally then we can go.” He offers. Riley looks up at him hopefully.

“Really?” She sniffs.

“Definitely.” Dean promises, and before he can even say _oof!_ , he has a lapful of squealing daughter.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Riley yells, slamming her hands on his chest. “The beeth are going to be tho happy.”

Dean doesn’t want to tell her that there probably won’t be any bees at the rally. 

****   


Dean managed to wrangle Gabriel and Krissy into going to the bee rally with them, but on the downside, Gabriel bought them all customized t-shirts. The words ‘ _bee support squad’_ are emblazoned across the chests in yellow and black striped font, and underneath, a picture of a group of bees in leather jackets. Riley, of course, had been ecstatic at the gift, and wouldn’t leave the apartment until all of them wore their t-shirts. Dean can’t even wear his leather jacket to cover it because of the heat.

Dean _really_ wonders why he’s friends with Gabriel, sometimes.

Once they get there, they walk around for a while, checking out the different stalls, until they come across a pie stall selling honey pies with candy bees on top. Dean can tell that Riley won’t leave until she gets one, so the four of them sit at the worn picnic benches nearby and eat honey pies until they feel sick.

“Daddy, I wanna see the beeth now.” Riley declares once they’ve finished, and Krissy and Gabriel have disappeared to check out the protest stall.

“Honeybee, I don’t know if there are any real bees here-” Dean begins, looking around for some sort of sign that says there are any.

“Where are they?” Riley yells, almost in tears.

Dean probably should have warned her there probably weren’t going to be bees here. 

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” Dean tells her in a soothing voice, bending over and scooping her into his arms, picking her up even though she’s heavy as hell these days. “They might be sleeping.”

““But I wanta’ thee _beeth_!” She repeats loudly. She wriggles out of Dean’s arms and before Dean can stop her, she’s running away, weaving through the crowd.

“Fuck,” Dean quickly goes after her, but can’t see her in the crowd because of her height. His heart is pounding in his chest as he tries to push away the anxious thoughts- _what if she gets hurt? What if someone kidnaps her? What if she gets lost? “_ Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

He reaches the edge of the crowd, frantically looking around for any sign of his daughter. “Riley?” He calls, voice scratchy with worry. “ _Riley!_ ”

“Fuck,” He curses once again, running a hand through his hair. He can feel tears prickling in his eyes, and his chest is getting tighter by the second.

 _Okay, calm down,_ Dean tells himself. _If you were a little girl looking for bees where would you go?_

Dean looks around once again. From where he’s standing, there’s only two ways to go; to the left, or to the right. Riley wouldn’t have gone to the right, because that’s where the exit is. Dean turns to the left and rapidly walks in that direction, eyes scanning his surroundings the whole time.

“Dean!” Someone suddenly calls. Dean turns with wide eyes to see Gabriel and Krissy, but no Riley, as he’d hoped. Gabriel and Krissy run over, smiling until they see the look on Dean’s face. “What’s wrong?” Gabriel asks, immediately concerned.

“Riley’s missing,” Dean chokes out, “She ran away- looking for fuckin’ _bees_ \- an’ I- I can’t fucking find her, I-” His voice breaks off.

“Dean, it’s fine, okay? Calm down, bucko.” Gabriel tells him, placing a hand on his shoulder. We’ll find her, okay?”

Dean nods, trying to calm his breathing.

“Okay.” Gabriel continues. “Krissy, you go stand by the exit, that way she can’t leave this place. I’ll go check next to the food and charity stalls, Dean you check the other way. Re-group in thirty minutes at the exit if none of us have found her.”

Krissy and Dean nod in understanding, before the three of them split up and go to their designated areas. Dean calls Riley’s name as he goes, hoping that she’ll hear him and come running up.

Dean is walking past a large, white tent when he hears it; the most beautiful sound in the world, Riley’s laughter. “Riley?” Dean exclaims, looking around, trying to locate where the noise is coming from. Dean goes closer to the tent and he hears her laugh once again, closer this time.

Dean runs into the tent, and amidst a row of wooden beehives, Riley stands, and it’s the most beautiful sight Dean’s ever laid his eyes upon. Relief fills his chest so quickly he feels like he’s going to faint as he runs towards her, pulling her into a tight hug.

“Don’t you ever do that again, Riley, you hear me?” Dean pulls away and holds her at arm’s length. She blinks at him, as though she’s unsure what she’d done wrong. “You can’t just run off like that, Ry.”

“I’m thorry daddy.” Riley mumbles, looking down.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Dean tells her, even though it’s decidedly not okay. He just can’t bear to see her upset. “Just promise me you won’t do it again.”

“I won’t.” Riley promises, holding up three fingers in a boy scout salute. He doesn’t even know where she’d learnt such a thing.

Dean stands up, breathing normally for the first time since Riley had run off- and smells a very familiar scent nearby.  He turns, slowly, to see the alpha from the other day stood a few feet away, looking just as hot and rumpled as he had in the workshop. Dean wonders if he lives in town, but pushes the thought away. Because one, if he lived in town, Dean would _definitely_ know about it, and two, Dean doesn’t care, okay? He doesn’t. He doesn’t need or want an alpha, so where the man lives isn’t something Dean needs to worry about.

“That’th Cath, daddy.” Riley tells him, noticing him looking. She reaches up and puts her hand in Dean’s. “He thhowed me the beeth’ houthe.”

Dean narrows his eyes at the alpha. He isn’t one to trust strange men hanging around his kid, no matter how much money they give Dean in exchange for sailing boats or how good they smell or how attractive they are- “Uh-did he, now?”

 Cas smiles a little awkwardly, aware how the situation might appear to Dean. “I wasn’t sure where her parents were.” He explains, “And she was searching for bees. I thought it would be better for her to wait in here with me than run off and get lost.”

Dean hums, surveying him for a moment. Cas doesn’t _seem_ like a creep, but then again, he could just be a good actor. In the end, he decides to just accept it. Riley is safe, now, thanks to Cas, so he shouldn’t be so harsh. “Thanks, man.” He says.

Cas nods. They both look at each other for a moment, eyes locked; seemingly unable to look away.

“Uh, daddy?” Riley shakes his hand. Dean falls out of the near-trance, giving Cas an awkward glance before looking down at Riley. “Look at the beeth.” She points. The wooden beehives have a glass panel on one side, and the bees are visible inside, doing bee stuff of some sort.

Dean really isn’t an expert.

“Daddy, did ya’ know that eatin’ honey maketh you thmart?” Riley tells him. “Cath told me. He knowth a lot about beeth, don’tcha, Cath?”

“That is true, Riley.” Cas answers. “I do know a lot about bees. I once aspired to become a beekeeper.”

Riley grins at him, and Dean can see the cogs turning in her head. He knows that she’ll be talking about becoming a beekeeper for the next few months, now that the she’s had the idea.

“Wouldn’t you get stung a lot?” Dean blurts. He’d always wondered why people became beekeepers.

“Not if you learnt how to handle them properly, and wear the correct attire.” Cas replies matter-of-factly. Dean nods, as if he knows exactly what he’s talking about.

“Can I go and thee the other bee houtheth, daddy?” Riley asks, batting her eyelashes at Dean in a I-know-you-won’t-be-able-to-resist-me way.

Dean nods. “Stay in the tent, though, okay?”

Riley runs off, skipping around the different hives with glee. Dean watches her with a smile, Cas’ presence at his side a strange, yet somehow welcome, feeling. They stand in silence for a few moments, until it gets too much.

“You probably think I’m a terrible dad, huh.” Dean says, glancing at Cas. He certainly _feels_ like a terrible dad. “Lettin’ my kid run away like that.”

Cas looks at him sharply, gaze heavy. “No, I don’t think that. I think you have a daughter that’s very enthusiastic about bees, and that you’re a hard-working parent who loves her a lot.” Cas tells him, an almost stern edge to his words. “Mistakes happen.” He adds.

“Pretty big mistake.” Dean mutters.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself,” Cas counters, giving Dean a sideways look.

Dean is about to answer when he feels his phone buzz in his pocket, and he checks it only to see a text from Gabriel asking for an update. Dean curses to himself.

“Riley, we gotta go, sweetheart.” Dean calls. Riley walks over with a pout on her face.

 “Can we thtay a bit longer?” Riley asks, giving him the puppy dog eyes that Sam used to frequent when he was younger.

“I wish we could, but we gotta go and find Uncle Gabriel and then we’re goin’ to the Roadhouse for dinner.” Dean reminds her. He wants to put this terrible rally behind him.  

“Oh,” Riley sighs. She goes up to the beehive and kisses the glass. “Bye, beeth.” She then walks over to Cas, hugging one of his legs and saying: “Bye, Cath.”

“Goodbye, Riley.” Cas replies, smiling down at her, patting her somewhat awkwardly on the back of the head. “I’ll look after the bees while you’re gone.” He promises seriously.

Riley giggles, and Dean hates that his heart is fluttering as he watches Cas interact with his kid. If Dean isn’t careful, things could go very, very wrong here.

“Bye, Cas.” Dean allows himself to say once Riley is back with him, her hand clasped in his. “Thanks for watchin’ Riley.”

“And teachin’ me about beeth!” Riley adds.

“It was no bother.” Cas smiles, looking from Riley to Dean. “It’s a nice change, to be out here, don’t you think?” He asks, vaguely.

“Uh… sure?” Dean frowns.

Cas’ smile grows larger, but he doesn’t attempt to explain. “Goodbye, Dean. It was… _nice_ to see you again.”

With a wave from Riley and an awkward nod-slash-smile from Dean, Cas goes back to the beehives, while Dean and Riley walk outside once again.

Dean wonders if that’ll be the last time he sees Cas, and then gets irritated at how badly he wants to see him again. Dean doesn’t need an alpha- he doesn’t. He’s not into the whole other-half, true mate, marrying-my-best-friend crap. He’s perfectly fine as he is, just him and Riley.

Or so he tries to convince himself.


	2. Chapter 2

”Uncle Deeeean!” Krissy yells, slamming the apartment’s front door closed. “I’m here!”

“We’re in the kitchen!” Riley calls back before Dean can reply. She quickly finishes the painting she’s been doing, ripped from her Disney coloring book. “Thith ith for you, Kay.” She grins, holding the soggy piece of paper up for Krissy to see.

“Wow, that’s awesome! Aladdin is my fave.” Krissy exclaims. She drops her things onto the table; a leather backpack with her clothes for tomorrow inside, three magazines, her cell phone and a bag of gummy bears.

“Hey, kid.” Dean tells her as Krissy comes around the kitchen table to give Dean a half-hug. “Excited for babysitting duty?”

Krissy rolls her eyes. “It’s not like it’s _hard_.” She replies. Dean has to agree; Riley is a surprisingly good kid seeing who her father is, excluding bee-fueled runaways.

“Yeah, daddy, th’not like it’th hard.” Riley repeats, sticking out her tongue. She’s already eyeing the bag of gummy bears on the table, hand inching closer to it as she tries to be subtle. Dean quickly moves the magazines away from her, because he doesn’t think that she needs to know about _Kim Kardashian’s wet t-shirt nip slip!_ at her age.

“Eager to get out on the town tonight, Dean-o?”

“Sure,” Dean answers distractedly, eyes scanning the front covers of the magazines just to have an excuse not to answer properly.

“Well you sure look excited,” Krissy scoffs, gesturing to Dean’s t-shirt with the suspicious stain and holey jeans. “I thought you were trying to _get_ an alpha, not repel one.”

Dean snorts. He’s not looking to do either tonight- all he wants is a good night out with good beer and good, _platonic_ company. “Yeah, well, if an alpha can’t handle my dirty t-shirts then they’re probably a shitty alpha to begin with.”

Krissy looks unimpressed. “Dean, I-”

“Krissy, I’m _reading_ ,” Dean tells her, picking up the nearest magazine and sticking his nose in it. He isn’t in the mood to talk relationships with his niece.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re totally interested in _10 ways to curl your hair_.”

Dean grunts, still not letting up. He turns to a different page instead.

“Maybe you should read that, actually.” Krissy snorts as she reads the title of the article; _How I found a perfect alpha in five easy steps._

“Damn, kid, I’m getting a different babysitter next time.” Dean tells her, pulling the magazine away from her and turning to a different page. This one has several blurry pictures of a guy in a pimp car. The face is blurred out.

“Is that Castiel Novak?” Krissy suddenly asks, leaning in closer so she can read the magazine once again. “ _Castiel Novak has a backseat rendezvous with three omegas._ ” She reads. “Huh, I didn’t know four people could fuck in the backseat at the same time, they must have been some tiny ‘megas.”

Dean squints at the pictures again. The car obviously only has one occupant.

“I have no idea why people choose to be famous,” Dean says, more to himself than anything. He can’t imagine having stories like this about him in the tabloids all the time.

“I do.” Krissy sighs, a little wistfully. Dean chooses not to comment on it.

“Anyway, I should get going,” Dean announces, standing up. Riley looks at him, pausing her drawing.

“Remember to look for an alpha, daddy,” Riley says seriously.

Dean really needs to lessen the time she spends with Gabriel.

“That’s not what tonight is about, honeybee.” Dean tells her, before bending down and kissing her forehead. “Be good for Kay.”

“I will.” She promises sweetly, eyeing the gummy bears once again.

Dean turns to Krissy. “Remember, bed time no later than eight, don’t give her too much candy, and if you need anything, call me.”

“I know, I know,” Krissy rolls her eyes, shoving Dean out of the kitchen. “We’ll be fine, see you tomorrow.”

It takes another five minutes of worrying from Dean before he actually leaves. Even though Krissy has watched her before, Dean’s always reluctant to leave Riley with someone else.

He decides to walk the short distance to the bar so that he can drink without worrying about his car. As much as Dean dislikes living downtown in an apartment instead of by the lake, he has to admit that it’s convenient.

“Hey, kids.” Dean greets when he gets to their usual table. It’s the usual crowd; Sam and Gabriel, Charlie and Dorothy, Benny and Andrea. Dean wonders if he’ll ever be a ‘Dean and’ type of guy.

“’bout time you showed up.” Benny grins as Dean takes a seat between him and Gabriel.

“Krissy was distracting me, y’know how she is.” Dean explains. He looks at the table in front of him, expecting to see the beer that someone usually orders for him when he’s late, but instead, there’s a tall, pink cocktail.

“Drink up, Dean-o!” Gabe smirks, noticing Dean’s gaze.

Dean makes a face.  “What is this?”

“A bend over Shirley, of course.” Gabriel replies, as though it’s the most obvious answer in the world. Dean studies the drink for another moment, before shrugging to himself and taking a gulp. It doesn’t taste bad, once he gets over the fact that it’s a drink that his dad would have probably yelled at him for tasting. 

Dean ignores the surprised look that Sam gives him, and turns to Charlie instead. "How'd the ultrasound go?"

They spend the next few hours talking and drinking like usual. Charlie and Dorothy decide to leave early, seeing as Charlie can’t really partake in the activities and her pregnancy fatigue is really hitting her hard. By the time Benny, Andrea , Gabriel and Sam decide they want to leave, Dean is drunker than he has been in a long time. It  turns out there'd been a lot of alcohol in those cocktails that Gabriel kept buying for him.

“I’m not leaving yet,” Dean announces stubbornly, words slurred. Sam and Gabriel exchange a look.

“We can’t just leave you here by yourself, Dean.” Sam says, frowning.

Dean waves a hand clumsily. “’sure you can, Sammy. All you gotta do is walk out the door.”

“Dean,” Sam comes closer, speaking quietly. “You know it’s not good for you to be out by yourself in the middle of the night, _hammered_ -”

Dean’s face turns stormy. “Why, because I’m an omega?” He gets up from the table, so quickly that the chair he’d been sitting on falls backwards. “Screw you, Sam.”

“That’s not what I meant-” Sam tries, but Dean’s already halfway across the room, his cellphone and jacket still at the table. “Dean!”

By the time Sam and Gabriel have made it outside, ready to grab Dean and drive him home, he’s nowhere to be found.

Dean doesn’t know where he is. After leaving the bar, he’d stopped off at a few other bars, and after an array of shots, somehow got in a cab and ended up by the lake. It’s the part of the lake near the south of town somewhere, he guesses, only a few houses scattered along the shore to let him know that he’s still somewhere near the town. It’s not an area he’s been to before, the area more tailored to rich people who buy holiday homes and visit in the summer.

In short, Dean is stranded in an area he doesn’t know, and it doesn't seem like anyone's home in the houses closest to him, the windows dark.

Dean isn’t sure how he ended up here, or why he’d asked the cab driver to drop him off here, but apparently, he’s stuck. He doesn’t even know if the town is to the right or to the left.

 _I’ll have to guess_ , Dean drunkenly decides, _and hope I’ve chosen the right way._

He digs in his pocket for a coin, pulling out a quarter.

“Tails for righ’, heads for left.” Dean mumbles, throwing the coin in the air. It clatters to the ground somewhere in the shadows, and it takes a few minutes for him to find it in the darkness.

“Ta’ls.” He sees in the end, and starts walking down the road in that direction. He’ll walk until he either hits town, hits the next town, or sees some sort of sign. “Don’t lemme down, coin fate…” Dean whispers sloppily.

He isn’t sure how long he walks for, but after what felt like an hour, Dean hears a car coming behind him, the headlights illuminating the road in front of him. Dean debates sticking out his thumb, but decides not to. It could be a serial killer.

The car drives past him, but instead of carrying on, the driver pulls onto the side of the road in front of Dean. A figure quickly gets out of the driver’s side, walking towards Dean.

“I don’ wanna get murdered.” Dean slurs. “I ‘ave a kid.”

“Good thing I’m not a murderer, then.” The person says, coming closer timidly, as though scared of startling Dean.

“Tha’s what a murdr’ would say.” Dean counters, pointing an accusing finger.

“Dean, is that you?” The person, a man, Dean decides, asks suddenly.

“No.”

The man scoffs, reaching forward and putting a finger beneath Dean’s chin, lifting his head. “It is you.” The man says slowly. “Are you inebriated?”

“No shit, Sh’rlock.” Dean mutters. “I’m tryna’ walk back to town, so if you don’ mind-” He moves to walk past the man, but a hand quickly darts out to grab his elbow.

“One, I cannot simply let you walk down these dark roads by yourself in this state, and two, the town is in the other direction.”

“Oh.” Dean sighs. “The coin lied to me. The coin fate _lied_ to me.”

The man nods as if he knows exactly what Dean is talking about, and that’s when Dean realizes. He’s met the man before- should have recognized him the second he’d gotten out of the car by smell alone, but in his drunken state his senses are weak.

“Cas?” Dean asks.

“Yes, it’s me.” He answers, sounding relieved for some reason. “Will you allow me to give you a ride home?”

Dean thinks of going back home to Riley in this state- to Krissy, and decides that that’s a very, _very_ bad idea. It’s why he usually stays at Sam’s after their nights out.

“No, no no, I- can’ go home like this.” Dean shakes his head. “I was mean’ to stay at my brother’s.”

Cas hums. “I will give you a ride.”

Dean is about to protest, but the look Cas gives him stops anything from coming out. He can tell by the look in his eyes that he’s not going to change his mind.

“Fine.” Dean grumbles. Thankfully, Cas lets him make his own way to the car, doesn’t try to help him like some boy scout helping an old lady cross the street. “’s a pimp car, dude.” Dean announces once he’s inside.

“I’m not a pimp.” Cas tells him, a confused tilt to his voice, but Dean doesn’t elaborate. Cas reaches forward and fiddles with the dials on the console, turning on some soft music and heat.

Dean makes a face at the music choice, but settles deeper into the soft leather seat anyway. He feels Cas start the engine and turn the car around, and within seconds, he’s passed out.

When Dean wakes up, the first thing he realizes is that he’s decidedly not in Sam’s house, unless Sam has an extra  bedroom that he’s hidden from him this whole time. The room is bathed in sunlight, the deep red, velvet curtains open to let in the rays. Through the window Dean can see the lake, glittering as the early-morning sun reflects off of it.

Dean’s heart beats wildly in his chest- where the hell is he?

He tries to remember what happened last night, but comes up blank. The last thing he can recall is leaving the bar. Had he hooked up with someone?

Dean looks down at himself- he’s still fully clothed, buried beneath a burgundy comforter, and it doesn’t seem like he had sex. That must not have been how he’d gotten here. Maybe he’d been kidnapped, or somehow bought a room in some lake-side B&B.

Shaking off the comforter, he checks his pockets for his cell-phone or wallet, but comes up empty handed. Either he’d lost them, or someone had taken them. It wouldn’t be the first time.

With a sigh, Dean decides to make his way downstairs. He needs to find out where he is- and then how the hell to get out of here.  It takes him a moment to find the staircase, and at the bottom, he finds himself in a large foyer, bright and open. He can hear someone in the next room over, and after a slight hesitation, he walks over, finding himself in a kitchen. The floor is a dark mahogany color, while the rest of the room is a creamy white. In the middle of it all stands a familiar looking man with dark hair, his back to Dean. The whole kitchen smells of him; of sandalwood and walnuts and something that smells refreshing and cool.

Dean clears his throat, and Cas immediately turns around, not at all startled.

“Hello, Dean.” Cas says tentatively.

“Uh… how did I get here?” Dean asks him, an edge to his voice. He doesn’t think Cas kidnapped him, but he’s still confused as to how he’d gotten to his house.

Cas’ brow furrows together as he walks closer, stopping a few feet away. “You don’t remember?”

Dean shakes his head.

“You- I found you on the side of the road, walking south of town.” Cas explains. “I offered to give you a ride to your brother’s, but you fell asleep before I could ask you where he lives.”

“So you… brought me to your place?” Dean surmises, ignoring the fact that Cas must have _carried_ him all the way up to the burgundy room, while Dean slept on obliviously.

“Yes. I hope that isn’t a problem.” Cas looks away. “I’m sorry if I overstepped. I couldn’t think of what else to do.”

Dean swallows, his mouth dry. “No, uh- it’s fine, man. Really. Thanks for not letting me die in a ditch somewhere.” He chuckles mirthlessly.

Cas nods, seemingly reassured. “It was no bother. If you still need a ride, I can take you anywhere you want.”

Dean’s eyes flicker to the clock above the oven, and notices that it’s almost nine a.m. He should probably get back to his place before Sam sends out a search party.

“Uh, yeah, if you don’t mind.”

“No problem,” Cas promises, pulling out his car keys from his back pocket. “Would you like something to eat?” He then asks, nodding his head to a plate of cinnamon rolls sitting on the kitchen island, steam curling off of them. “I just made them.”

Dean knows he probably shouldn’t accept food from a near-stranger (or maybe acquaintance by now, he’s not sure.), but he can’t help himself.

“It’s good,” Dean says around a mouthful of cinnamon roll. Cas smiles, gesturing for Dean to follow, and leads them both to Cas’ car once again.

“I’m glad you like them.” Cas tells him, a warm look in his eyes that makes Dean look away, looking at the car instead.

“Dude, you have a pimp car.” Dean says. The car seems familiar, for some reason, but it’s probably because he’d been in it last night.

“As you said last night.” Cas says as they both get in. “I fail to see how owning this car makes me a pimp, when I don’t manage any prostitutes.”

Dean snorts softly. “Never mind.” To make things worse, Cas leans forward and switches on the stereo, making rap music fill the car. Dean looks at him with a horrified look on his face. “Dude. Seriously?”

Cas frowns. “You don’t like rap music?”

“You do?”

“Yes. Rappers are very talented. One of my brothers is a rapper.”

“Seriously?” Dean repeats. “Have I heard of him?”

“Ye- No. No, probably not.” Cas says quickly. “So, where do you live?”

Dean studies him for a moment, having noticed the quick change in subject, but decides to let it lie. “Oak street.”

“I thought you lived by the lake?” Cas frowns.

“Nah, that’s just my workshop.” Dean replies. “Used to live there, upstairs, but it got too dangerous for Riley, so we moved.”

Cas nods in understanding. “You’re good with her.”

Dean shrugs. “’course. She’s my daughter.”

“Where is her other parent, if you don’t mind my asking?” Cas asks. Dean’s fingers squeeze his thighs anxiously.

He’s not ready to talk about it, yet. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever be ready. He hadn’t even told Sam. “I don’t, I-” Dean’s chest feels tight all of a sudden, and he struggles to get the words out.

“Dean, it’s okay.” Cas says, his voice calm and collected. “You don’t have to tell me, I apologize. I was prying.”

Dean nods, grateful.

There’s an awkward silence for a few moments, before Cas decides to change the subject. “I… received my boat two days ago. It’s wonderful.”

Dean relaxes immediately; this is what he can talk about the best- his work. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yes. I even took it out on the lake yesterday.”

“How was she? No problems?”

Cas smiles. “None at all. I enjoyed it a lot.”

“Well, I’m glad.” Dean grins. He’s glad that his hard work is appreciated, at least. He’d hate to see such a beautiful boat wasting away in some storage unit without getting used.

“Perhaps we can go ou-”

“Wait! That’s my building!” Dean cuts him off, pointing through the window. Dean’s glad to see that there aren’t any police cruisers outside, but no doubt that Sam’s car is parked in the garage.

Cas seems flustered for a moment, but quickly pulls over onto the pavement.

“Uh, what were you saying?” Dean asks, and Cas looks down towards his lap.

“Nothing.” He replies.

“Oh… okay.” Dean unbuckles his seatbelt awkwardly. “Thanks for last night.”

“Again, it was no problem.” Cas assures.

“Yeah, well… anyway.” Dean gets out of the car, bending down to talk to Cas through the open door. “See ya.”

Cas waves an awkward hand, and Dean shuts the door. Cas doesn’t pull away until Dean is safely inside the building.

Upstairs, the living room of Dean and Riley’s apartment is bustling; Sam, Gabriel and Krissy all sit on the couch looking anxious. Riley is on the floor next to them, dressed in her Iron Man suit and drawing in her purple notebook.

The second Dean walks into the room, Sam and Gabriel jump up and storm over to him.

“Where the hell have you been, Dean?” Sam whispers angrily, so that Riley doesn’t notice that something is going on. “We’ve been worried as hell.”

“Look, man, it’s a long story, okay?” Dean runs a hand through his hair, making it stick up. “I’m fine, and safe and all that shit, so can we just drop it?”

Sam looks like he’s about to start yelling, but Gabriel stops him with a hand to the shoulder.

“Samsquatch, calm down.” Gabriel tells him. “He’s back, isn’t he? There’s no point crying over spilt milk. What’s done is done.”

Sam glances between Gabriel and Dean for a moment, before deflating with a sigh. “At least tell us what happened, Dean.” Sam pleads.

“He obviously got laid.” Gabriel winks.

Dean rolls his eyes, not even bothering to correct them; they wouldn’t believe him, anyway. Dean walks past them into the living room, bending down to give Riley a kiss on the cheek.

“Daddy!” Riley exclaims, jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Hey, sweetheart.” Dean smiles, reaching forward to straighten her Iron Man mask when she pulls back from the hug. “Were you good for Kay?”

Riley nods rapidly. “You betcha.”

Dean looks to Krissy for confirmation, who shrugs. “She was as good as ever.” She supplies. “Went to bed on time and everything.”

“Maybe I should get you to babysit more often.” Dean winks, before walking over to his cash box and pulling out a few notes, and hands them to Krissy. “Don’t waste it on something stupid.”

Krissy rolls her eyes. “I’m just gonna buy some heroin, no big.”

“Whath heroin?” Riley pipes up.

“Something you’re never, ever going to see or touch in your lifetime.” Dean tells her sternly. Riley shrugs, going back to her drawing.

“Kris, you ready?” Sam calls.

Krissy glances at Dean before answering. “Yeah!” She stands up, grabbing her backpack. “You’re totally going to tell me all about last night when I see you next.”

Dean scoffs. “Dream on, kid.”

With a laugh, Krissy flounces out of the room. Sam and Gabriel leave a few minutes later after saying goodbye to Dean and Riley.

“Daddy, can we go to grama’th today?” Riley asks suddenly. “I wanna thwim in her pool an’ thow her my new floatieth.”

 “Only if I get to use the crocodile float.”

Riley thinks about this for a moment, before grinning up at Dean. “Deal.”


	3. Chapter 3

Some people might call Dean a bad dad for taking his daughter to a candy store-slash-ice cream parlor several times a week, but Dean doesn’t care.  Both him and Riley prefer to spend their afternoons at the busy store rather in their apartment, and Gabriel’s always a laugh to be around, even though he can be annoying as hell.

Besides, Gabriel eats ten times much candy as Riley does, and he turned out fine.

Sort of.

Most days Dean will try and get off work at three, so he has enough time to pick up Riley from school and spend the rest of the day with her. He feels bad that the rest of the guys at work have to stay until five, but Benny’s said countless times that Dean should spend all the time he can with his daughter. Dean’s glad that he does; Riley is growing so fast and if he doesn’t stop to watch her once in a while, he’ll miss it.

“Today I’m gonna have… rathpberry flavor ithe cream.” Riley announces from the back seat. “With marthmallowth an’ chocolate chipth an’ fudge thauthe.”

Dean whistles. “Fudge sauce? Must be a special day today, huh?” Riley nods enthusiastically. She claims that her ice cream choices have special meaning; and she says that having fudge sauce means something big is going to happen. The last time she had fudge sauce, Gabriel had broken his leg not even five minutes after, by falling off the counter.

“Today ith thpecial.” She states surely.

“What ice cream should I get?” Dean asks her.

“Um… cherry pie with chocolate hearts and red thauthe.”

“Strawberry sauce?” Dean corrects.

Riley nods.

“My favorite,” Dean hums, rubbing his belly. They get to Gabriel’s soon after, and Riley demands that Dean gets her jacket from the trunk, even though it’s almost summer.

“Dreth to impreth, daddy.” Riley tells him as she slides the gold jacket on over her sky blue dress. He has no doubt that she’d learnt that saying from Krissy. Dean wonders who she’s trying to impress. “Is my hair methy?”

“No, it’s  _beautiful_." Dean sweeps a few flyways behind her ear. "Do you want to wear your headband? There’s one in the trunk.”

“Ith it the daithy one?” Dean nods. “Yeth pleathe.”

Once Riley is happy with her headband, she climbs out of the car and slides her hand into Dean’s. There’s a big smile on her face, as though they’re about to walk into a surprise party, or something.

“Daddy,” Riley stops them just before they walk in, tugging on his hand. “Remember I want fudge thauthe.”

Dean frowns slightly at her strange behavior, but nods anyway. “’course! I wouldn’t forget.” He promises. Satisfied, Riley grins and leads them into the store, going straight to the end of the counter where they usually sit; on the light blue stools.

Gabriel walks over to them straight away, a big smile on his face. Dean tells him their order as Gabe kisses Riley on the cheek before heading off to get their ice creams for them.

“Uncle Gabe ith tho lucky he getth to have ithe cream _all the time_.” Riley says.

“Maybe you should be an ice cream lady instead of a bee keeper when you grow up, then.” Dean replies, and Riley looks at him, horrified.

“ _No_ , Daddy!” She tells him sternly, and Dean raises his hands in mock defeat.

“Alright, alright,” Dean chuckles just as Gabriel returns with their ice creams.

“I see you got the fudge sauce,” Gabriel tells Riley seriously, in a hushed tone. “Am I going to break my leg again, o psychic one?”

Riley giggles, shaking her head.

Gabriel hums, finger on his chin. “Does it involve me?”

Riley shrugs suspiciously.

“Would a bag of rainbow bon bons make you talk?” Gabriel wiggles his eyebrows.

“Don’t bribe my daughter, Gabe.” Dean scolds mockingly, making Gabriel turn to him with an overly innocent look on his face. The bell above the door behind Dean chimes as someone comes in, and Gabriel’s eyes flicker up and immediately widen.

Dean turns his head, following Gabriel’s gaze, and sees Cas. His heart flutters, sure, but it’s more likely some sort of strange heart condition than him being excited to see Cas, okay?

When Dean turns back to face Gabriel, the omega’s disappeared into thin air, and Riley is still giggling next to him as she eats her ice cream.

Dean cranes his neck to see if Gabriel’s hiding behind the counter or something, when he feels someone walk up behind him, standing closer than needed. Dean knows just by scenting the air that it’s Cas.

“Cath!” Riley exclaims. She leans forward to hug him, and Dean’s surprised when Cas welcomes the hug, not at all bothered by Riley’s sticky, fudge covered hands.

“Hello, Riley, Dean.” Cas says, a ghost of a smile on his face. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Dean could say the same thing to him. How did he go from never seeing this dude to just randomly bumping into him everywhere? Dean still doesn't know if he actually lives here, now, or if he's just visiting.

 _Hopefully he lives here_ , the annoying voice in Dean's head says, making him scowl.

“I could say the same,” Dean tells him. “Didn’t peg you for a sweet tooth type.”

“Are you here to get ithe cream, mithter Cath?” Riley adds.

“I wasn’t planning on it, but you both seem to be enjoying them so I may purchase one.” Cas tells them. He eyes the stool next to Riley, as though he’s trying to decide whether to sit there or not. Apparently he decides to keep standing, as he turns his attention to the menu boards above them, squinting at the list of ice creams. “I’m actually here to see the owner.” He then says absentmindedly.

“Gabe?” Dean asks. _How does he know Gabe?_

“You know him?”

“Unfortunately.”

Cas’ eyes flicker to meet his, a conflicted expression on his face. “You don’t like him?”

“I was just being- never mind.” Dean shakes his head, smiling somewhat fondly. “How do you know Gabriel. anyway?”

“He is my-” Before Cas can finish his sentence, Gabriel suddenly appears from the back room, looking flushed, overwhelmed. “Hello, Gabriel.”

“Cassie!” Gabriel sounds overly-enthusiastic, smile too large to be natural. “What brings you to our humble town?”

“Wait, hold on. How do you two know each other?” Dean cuts across. _Please don’t say you fucked, please don’t say you fucked-_

“How do _you_ two know each other?” Gabriel counters, eyes flickering between Dean and Cas.

“I asked you first!” Dean exclaims.

“Daddy athked firtht.” Riley agrees, before going back to her ice cream.

“Cassie here is my brother.” Gabriel admits.

Dean gapes. How the hell were they related?

“I know, I know, I got all the good looks in the family.” Gabriel continues. “Now how do _you_ know him?”

“He’s the one that saved Riley.” Dean tells him, choosing not to divulge him in the tale of how Dean slept at his house.

Gabriel frowns up at Cas. “You…” He trails off. He studies Cas for a moment, before nodding at something. “Sit down, I’ll get you some ice cream.”

Cas does so, sitting down on the stool next to Riley.

“How do you know Gabriel?” Cas asks Dean once Gabriel’s walked away.

“He’s mated to my brother.”

“You’re his brother-in-law?” Cas surmises. “I see why you joked about liking him earlier.”

“He’th my uncle!” Riley pipes up, before turning to Dean. “Daddy, I need to wash my fathe.” She grimaces, ice cream all around her mouth and nose.

“ _Yeah,_ you do.” Dean chuckles. He picks her up by the waist and puts her on the ground. “Don’t touch anything,” He tells her, seeing the state of her hands. He leads her behind the counter and ignores Gabriel’s shout of _‘If you use my sink, you pay the water bill!’_ , turning on the warm water and grabbing the industrial sized hand soap. He picks Riley up once again so she can reach the sink to wash herself.

He hears the bell chime once again, and looks up to see Krissy and Sam walk through the door as they usually do at four. Riley notices too, as she wriggles in Dean’s arms, dropping to the ground. She quickly dries her hands and face on Dean’s pants before running up to Krissy and Sam.

“Kay! Uncle thammy! Gueth who’th here!” She grabs their hands, leading them towards an awkward-looing Cas. Dean walks back over and sits down in his stool.

Krissy’s eyes widen when they land on Cas, stopping in her tracks even though Riley’s still pulling on her hand. “You, you’re-” She says to Cas dazedly.

Dean frowns. “You havin’ a stroke, Kris?” He asks, earning an elbow in the side from Sam as he walks around to the other side of the counter.

“It’s, why-” Krissy continues. “Don’t you guys _recognize_ him?”

“Yeah,” Sam answers, turning to said man. “Cas, right? Gabe’s brother? I think you're in one of our photo albums.”

Krissy looks like she’s about to die on spot. “You- you’re telling me that _Castiel Novak_ is my _uncle_? Why the hell did I not know this?”

Aaaand that’s when everything clicks into place for Dean.

Cas, the alpha with the amazing scent who’d saved both his and his daughter’s asses, is actually _Castiel Novak_ , wild, famous, party-boy actor Castiel Novak who can’t keep out of the tabloids for five minutes.

“You’re Castiel Novak.” Dean states dully. Cas, or Cas _tiel_ , looks at him apologetically, looking more awkward by the second.

“I don’t underthtand.” Riley says, looking between the rest of them with a confused look on her face.

 _Neither do I,_ Dean thinks. Cas doesn’t seem like he’s portrayed in the magazines, but really, how much do they really lie? He’s heard all about him; being arrested for being drunk in public, getting caught with weed, crashing cars and helicopters alike, being found with _multiple_ omegas- and suddenly, this is all too much for Dean.

He can’t believe he’d actually liked this guy a little. He can’t believe he let his _daughter_ around this guy.

Dean stands up from the stool, grabbing for Riley and picking her up. “We’re going home, Ry.” He tells her, before turning around and walking out of the store, ignoring Sam’s confused calls.

Riley relaxes against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Told you it wath a fudge thauthe day, daddy.” She sighs.

****   


Once Riley is in bed for the night, Dean pulls out his laptop and sits at the kitchen table, typing ‘ _Castiel Novak_ ’ into google search, before going onto the news tab. He’s immediately hit with thousands of results, ranging from ‘ _Castiel Novak goes on vacation!_ ’ to ‘ _Castiel Novak found passed out in Club Sunset after drinking himself sick_ ’ and ‘ _Castiel Novak cheats on beau Hael Harrison with three omega sex workers_.’

It’s shocking, to say the least. It’s like his Cas and ‘ _Castiel Novak’_ are two completely different people.

 _His_ Cas, Dean scoffs _. He’s not my anything_.

It just goes to show that you can’t trust any alpha, no matter how nice they might seem. Dean’s learnt that the hard way, several times.

 _Give him a chance_ , a text from Gabriel reads. Dean doesn’t reply.

 _What happened to you today?_ Sam had said. Dean hadn’t answered that, either.

All he can say is that he’s glad that he figured out who Cas is _before_ he’d gotten invested.

He spends the next hour or so trifling through the other news results, and another hour after that looking through the google image results. He then goes to youtube to see clips from various movies that he’s done, and Dean has to admit that he’s a good actor- he’d even won several awards, including an Emmy.

He tells himself it’s just for closure, but as he bookmarks several pages and some of Cas’ movies he wants to watch another time, he knows it’s not true.

****   


“Daddy, I want to go to a bee farm today.” Riley declares on Saturday, putting down the Barbie and action figure she’d been playing with.

“I don’t know if there are any around here, sweetheart.” Dean tells her as he makes their sandwiches. “Besides, we’re going out on Uncle Sam’s boat today, you know that.”

“But Uncle Cath thaid there ith one here.” Riley tells him persistently. Dean’s hand clenches around the knife he’s holding. _Uncle_ Cas?

“Cas isn’t your uncle, Ry.”

“He’th Uncle Gabe’th brother.” She states, confused.

“That means he’s Krissy’s uncle, you’re not related to him.”

Riley picks up the Barbie again, fiddling with the dress she’s wearing. “But I want him to be related to me.”

“Well he’s _not_.” Dean mutters, and immediately regrets the stern tone he’d used as Riley storms out of the room. He’d obviously hurt her feelings.

They’d seen Cas twice more since Monday, once at the grocery store, and once when they were at the park. Dean had immediately high-tailed away from Cas as soon as he’d seen him, but Riley had seen him both times, too. Dead had had to bribe her _twice_ with promises of her favorite snacks just to get her to stop being mad that she couldn’t say hi to Cas.

He quickly finishes packing up their lunch and places it in their designated ‘day on the lake’ bag, and puts on his shoes before going to find Riley.

“Ry, we need to leave or Sammy’s gonna go without us.” Dean calls. Riley storms into the hallway from the living room, obviously still mad, and angrily puts on her shoes and a denim jacket over her flowery dungarees.

She doesn’t speak the whole drive to Sam and Gabe’s house, or even when they walk around to the dock in Sam’s backyard and meet up with everyone. She doesn’t reply when anyone says hello, or when asked if she wants the red lifejacket or the green one.

“What’s up with goldilocks?” Gabriel whispers to him once they’re on the boat, and Riley is sitting on one of the benches at the back of the boat not looking at anyone.

“She’s mad that Cas _tiel_ isn’t her uncle.” Dean replies, not bothering to give him the context.

“Well, if she’s that mad, I can divorce Sam so he and Cassie can get together so he’ll be her uncle.” Gabriel suggests. “Though I’m not sure how they both feel about alpha/alpha relationships.”

“That would be great if I actually wanted him to be her uncle.” Dean snorts back, and he wonders how this is his life now. Is he capable of having a conversation where Cas, or his lack of mate, isn’t addressed? What happened to talking about the weather, or sports?

Gabriel studies him for a moment. “Y’know, he’s not that bad. I know it seems like he’s Charlie Sheen number two, but a lot of it is gossip and image.”

“Whatever.” Dean answers, in the most bored tone he can manage. He can’t wait until Castiel moves back to LA or wherever so he can have some peace. “Did you get Krissy her car yet?”

“Nice subject change there, Dean-o.” Gabe smirks, but lets Dean commandeer the conversation anyway, and they fall into an easy discussion on used cars that Dean can talk about easily enough.

Dean can say that without a doubt the worst thing about being unmated isn’t the leers he gets from alphas (which are pretty terrible in themselves), but the questions and pitying looks he gets from his family. It makes him want to go out and get a mate on principle, just to get them to shut up.

If only it were that easy. The only thing Dean is glad about is that his father is no longer around, because at least now he doesn’t have to worry about John’s judgement about his son being an omega interested in alphas.

The rest is complicated; starting with the fact that sure, the idea of a mate seems great, but Dean doesn’t think he can ever trust an alpha enough to be with them for long. There’s also the fact that Dean is a little put-off by romance ninety percent of the time. Sam calls it being grey-romantic. Then, of course, there’s the matter of Riley- because most alphas turn up their nose at parenting another alpha’s kid.

So, Dean just has to put up with being wolf-whistled at, and judged, and just stick to taking his frustrations out on one night alpha’s instead.

To make things even worse, every time he goes to the bar to pick up an alpha, his whole family ends up knowing about it, seeing as they’re the only ones he trusts to look after Riley for the night.

That’s how Dean ends up at his mom’s house the next Friday, saying goodbye to Riley while his mom gives him weird looks.

“Mom, will you _stop_?” Dean asks her, pouting slightly. “Next time I’m just going to get Charlie to watch Riley.” Or not. He knows that if he did that, Charlie would spend the whole of the next day badgering him for details.

“You know I’m just excited for you, honey.” His mom smiles. “You could meet _the one_ tonight, you never know!”

Dean holds in his grimace at the words ‘ _the one’_.

“Sure.” Dean tells her, before turning back to Riley to say goodbye one last time. “Be good for gramma.”

“I will.” She smiles sweetly at him, batting her eyelashes. Dean ruffles her hair, kissing her forehead before walking out, calling a goodbye to his mom over his shoulder.

He drives back to his apartment to park his car, and then walks the rest of the way to the bar. He chooses one where he knows he won’t run in to anyone he knows and goes in, ordering both a beer and a whiskey.

It doesn’t take long for someone to come up to him, sliding into the worn barstool next to him. It’s a woman; with long, dark hair and tanned skin.

“Hi,” She grins, placing her red cocktail down onto the bar in front of them. “This seat taken?”

“Seeing as you’ve already sat down, I’d say yes.” Dean tells her, smiling lazily.

“I’m Lisa.” She introduces, holding out a manicured hand.

Dean shakes it. “Dean.”

Lisa places a hand on his knee, squeezing gently. “You’re beautiful. Can I buy you another drink?”

Dean smiles in response, even though he’s feeling kind of uncomfortable. He’s never really liked it when people compliment him to get into his pants, because he can never tell if they’re sincere or not.

“Uh, sure.”

Lisa grins, flashing pearly white teeth, and asks the bartender for another drink for Dean. They speak for a while, falling into small talk, and Dean finds out that Lisa has a son. She seems insecure when she tells him, but when Dean tells her about Riley, her eyes light up.

They have a few more drinks, and Lisa keeps steadily getting closer, until she leans in to whisper in his ear, warm breath giving Dean goosebumps. “Wanna get out of here?” She asks, blinking her big, brown eyes at him.

 _Cas’ has blue eyes_. Dean’s mind unhelpfully supplies for some reason. _Cas smells better_.

“Um, I-” Dean blushes _. She’s not Cas._

He must be drunker than he thought. So what if Lisa isn’t Cas? That’s supposed to be a _good_ thing, better for him, _safer_.

If that’s true, then why doesn’t he want to go home with Lisa?

“It’s okay, Dean.” Lisa says soothingly. “How about I give you my number, and we can maybe meet up another time?”

Dean sighs in relief. They exchange numbers, and Lisa departs with a small kiss to his cheek.

Dean goes home alone.


	4. Chapter 4

The next weekend, Dean gets a text from an unknown number that reads Dean _, I would like to explain myself._

Dean doesn’t need psychic powers to be able to guess who it’s from.

He doesn’t answer it, of course. In the nearly two weeks it’s been since Dean figured out that Cas is Castiel Novak, he’s appeared in the tabloids three times. Once for apparently buying drugs from the same drug dealer as Justin Bieber, once for drag racing in Santa Monica and once for apparently beating up three alphas over an omega.

It seems he’s been busy.

Dean doesn’t care, though, he really doesn’t. Sure, he might have set google alerts for Cas, but not because he _cares_. It’s so that if anyone asks Dean about him, then he has plenty of excuses as to why he’s avoiding Cas. 

Not that anyone’s asked him. Gabriel has given him a few ‘meaningful’ glances which Dean has done his best to ignore, but apart from that, there’s been nothing. It’s good to be prepared, though. 

“What’s _up_ with you?” Charlie asks. Dean glances over, surprised. He hadn’t even noticed her walk over. “You didn’t even eat the burger Gabe made for you.”

Dean looks down at the paper plate in his hand, the cheeseburger with bacon and onions still sitting there, untouched.

It’s a strange sight.

In the warmer months, (which is decidedly every month in California), Sam and Gabriel throw a barbeque for their family and friends, and usually, Dean will end up eating at least five burgers.

“Guess I’m not hungry.” He shrugs, the words feeling foreign in his mouth. He relaxes back into the lawn chair he’s sitting on, watching Riley play on Krissy’s old swing-set by the dock with the neighbor’s children.

He sees Charlie watching him from the corner of his eye, but chooses to ignore it.

“So, I have big news.” Charlie announces after a few minutes.

Dean mock-gasps. “You’re pregnant?”

“Ha, ha. Ever think about becoming a comedian?” Charlie takes a sip of her soda. “Dorothy and I are going to get married.”

Dean gapes, for real this time. “You- really?”

Charlie shrugs as though it’s not a big deal. “We were waiting until they made alpha/alpha marriage legal everywhere, and now they have, so why not?”

Dean smiles at her, reaching a hand and squeezing her knee. “I’m happy for you, Char.” He tells her sincerely.

Charlie places her hand over Dean’s. “Thanks, handmaiden.”

“Hey!” Dean exclaims, pulling his hand back. “I told you to never mention that again.”

“Sucks to be you.” Charlie smirks. “Now do you think I should go with a traditional white dress for my wedding, or should I wear a red dress?”

“I dunno, I think white would look better with your hair.” Dean replies, before realizing what he’d just done. “I mean, uh- I, don’t ask me about clothes, Charlie! I’m a _dude_.”

Charlie gives him an unimpressed look. “A guy with the best fashion sense I know. Shame you have to ruin it by wearing flannels all the time, huh.”

“Don’t insult a guys’ flannels, Charlie, them’s fightin’ words.” Dean warns, raising his eyebrows. “Just be glad it’s me you’re talkin’ to and not Sammy.”

A high pitched squealing noise attracts both of their attention, and Dean turns to see Riley punch the neighbor’s son in the nose, knocking him to the ground.

“Oh _, fuck_.” Dean mutters, putting his plate on the ground and running over. The boy is sitting on the ground crying when he gets there, and Dean’s thankful that he didn’t try to fight back.

Riley would have kicked his ass.

“Riley Samantha Winchester, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Dean demands, and Riley turns to him with wide eyes.

“Daddy, it wath hith fault!” She cries, pointing an accusing finger at the crying boy. “He made fun of me.” Her lower lip trembles.

Dean sighs, bending over to pick her up. He wants to get her out of there before the boy comes to his senses and starts throwing his own punches. “Then you tell someone, you don’t go hittin’ anyone you want.”

“But you’re the one that taught me to do that, daddy.” Riley blinks, looking confused.

“Yes, so you can use it if you’re in danger, not just because you’re angry.” Dean walks them over to the patio where the rest of the barbeque goers are sitting, and places Riley down on an empty deck chair near the pool. She pouts up at Dean, her arms crossed.

Gabriel suddenly appears brandishing Riley’s juice bottle and a mini-pack of oreos, giving them both to Riley. “Turn that frown upside down, kiddo. D’you want people to think someone’s having a bad time at _my_ barbeque?”

Riley sighs dramatically, the longest sigh Dean thinks he’s ever heard. “No, Uncle Gabe.”

“How about you come in the pool with me an’ Krissy, huh? We’re much better than those stinky kids down there.” Gabriel winks at her slyly.

“Okay!” Riley answers, suddenly perked up. “Daddy, you need to get my floatieth from the car pleathe.”

“Okay, okay, I’m goin’.” Dean says, groaning as he gets up off of his knees. _Damn, I’m getting old._

He quickly rounds the side of the house and gets the floats and some waterproof sunscreen from the trunk of the impala, and he notices that someone’s parked a car right behind his, blocking him in.

Not just any car. A familiar looking Lincoln Continental pimp car. 

Dean curses to himself for at least thirty seconds straight, before composing himself and going back to the barbeque. Maybe he’s not here, maybe he’s just parked here for some reason. Maybe he just has the same car as one of Gabriel’s friends.

Dean isn’t going to accept that Cas is here unless he actually sees him. If he doesn’t see Cas, then Cas isn’t here. Simple. Besides, the barbeque started two hours ago; surely Dean would have spotted him if he were actually here?

Check mate, universe.

He goes over to Riley, who’s changed into her purple swimsuit, and slides on her arm floats before putting sunscreen on her.

“I hate thunthcreen.” She pouts.

“You’d hate getting sunburnt more, sweetheart.” Dean counters as he finishes rubbing it into her face. “Now don’t splash Uncle Gabe too much, will you?” He winks, knowing that the reverse psychology will get her to do it even more.

Riley grins evilly, quickly walking over to the pool and jumping in to join Krissy and Gabriel. The first thing she does is splash Gabriel in the face, who puts on a dramatic reaction to get her to laugh. Satisfied that his daughter is okay, Dean goes back to the chairs where he’d been sitting earlier, under the oak tree on the other side of the garden. Charlie isn’t there anymore, probably inside telling Andrea the big news.

He sits there for a while, eating his discarded burger as he watches the boats on the lake go by, as well as a few jet skis. He’s jealous of them; Dean would do anything to have a jet ski for himself, and maybe a mini sidecar or something for Riley. 

Sam lopes over a little later, handing him a cold beer.

“Any reason you’re over here instead of by the pool?” Sam asks, sitting on the arm of the empty chair next to Dean.

Dean shrugs. “Your neighbors are annoying.”

“Well, when you’ve finished being anti-social, you can come right over.” Sam says before walking away once more. Dean doesn’t feel bad. It’s nice to be able to sit by himself for once, knowing his daughter is near and having fun is enough for him. He doesn’t need to helicopter watch her with Gabriel, and he doesn’t need to make small-talk with Sam’s neighbors and have them badger him about being mateless or the fact that he’s sending Riley to public school.

Dean decides that he’ll go over there once he’s finished his beer, just to appease Sam. He’s a great brother that way. Dean will go over there, get Riley into some dry clothes, eat some more burgers,  then use Riley as an excuse to go home, keeping awkward small talk to a minimum.

The only flaw in Dean’s plan is that he didn’t account for Castiel Novak fucking appearing out of nowhere and sitting on the chair next to him. The only thing that doesn’t stop Dean from immediately getting up and walking away is the pleading look on Cas’ face.

“Please, Dean. I’d like to explain myself to you.” Cas says, fingers gripping the wooden armrests of the chair.

“I’m surprised you’re at your brother’s barbeque rather than at some club getting drunk.” Dean snaps.

Cas isn’t perturbed. “I will not force you to listen, but I’d appreciate it very much.”

Dean sighs, dragging his spare hand down his face. “Fine. You have two minutes.”

Cas looks surprised, as though he wasn’t expecting Dean to give in so quickly. “I, well. I assume that the reason you walked out when you found out that I was ‘Castiel Novak’,” The nerd even does air quotes with his fingers, “Is because you’ve seen the stories about me in the magazines. I can assure you that most of these, if not all, are fabricated.”

“An’ I’m supposed to just believe that?” Dean asks, voice rough. “The pictures, too? Those photoshopped? You’ve been in the tabloids like three times this week, man.”

“Dean, I have been here for the past few weeks. It isn’t possible for me to have been drag racing in Santa Monica when I’ve been on vacation here.” Cas tells him. Dean ignores the pang in his chest that comes when he realizes that Cas isn’t going to live here permanently.

Cas shifts in his chair, squinting out at the lake pensively. “When I first became famous, it was enjoyable to me. I enjoyed my job, I had fans, and I could do positive things, be a good role model. It was going very well until my agent, Zachariah, decided my image needed to be different. He and my agency and publicists thought it would be better for me to market myself as a ‘bad boy,’” _Again, with the air quotes?_ “I had no choice, Dean. This is what I must do to keep my career. I have never gotten arrested, or slept with more than one person at once, or fought, or smoked marijuana.”

They’re both silent for a few minutes, Dean mulling over the information in his mind and Cas waiting for his reaction patiently. “Why don’t you just get a new agent?” Dean asks, his voice much softer this time.

“Zachariah is a very manipulative man. If I were to quit, he would blacklist my name throughout Hollywood. I would never get an agent, or a role, ever again.” Cas answers morosely. “The only option is to quit altogether, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that, yet. I enjoy my job very much.”

Dean doesn’t know what to say, so he doesn’t answer at all.

“I know that you probably think of me in a bad light, Dean, but I would like it if we could be friends, maybe. I’m not a bad man as you might think.”

“So you didn’t cheat on Hael Harrison?” Dean asks.

“It’s impossible for me to cheat on someone I was never with, Dean.” Cas replies. “That is the worst part of all, I think; coming off as one of those alphas that think they’re better than every omega, that omegas are only here for us to put our knot in.”

“So… you’re not one of those guys?”

“No, definitely not.” Cas states. “I’m an omega rights advocate and campaigner, though I’m not allowed to be public about it.”

Dean is silent for a moment, before asking: “Who was it?”

Cas frowns. “Who was what?”

“The omega that got hurt that made you want to fight for omega rights.”

“There doesn’t have to be an omega, Dean, an alpha can be respectful of omegas by their own merit-”

“I know they can, Cas.” Dean answers. “I’m talking about _you_. I can tell by your face, y’know, but it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”

Cas turns his head away, fingers knotting together in his lap. “My twin brother, Jimmy. He was an omega.” Is all Cas shares. Dean doesn’t press any further. The subject seems to be a painful one, if the ‘ _was_ ’ is anything to go by.

He decides to change the subject. “So, if you’re Gabe’s brother, how come you didn’t come to high school with us?” Dean asks. Gabriel had been in the same grade as Dean growing up, and it’d been how he’d met Sam.

Cas looks relieved at the subject change. “We are half-brothers. He grew up with our father, while I lived with my aunt Naomi, before being sent to an all-alpha boarding school. Gabriel and I didn’t have contact until I was twenty years old, and he’d finished high school. “

“All-alpha boarding school? That sucks, man.” Dean can’t imagine being in a school with only omegas. It seems as though it would be boring.

“Yes, you could say that.” Cas agrees, looking at Dean for the first time in what feels like hours.

There’s another silence in which they don’t know what to say, both of them just looking at each other. Dean doesn’t know whether to feel awkward or excited.

Dean is the first to look away, Cas’ gaze too intense. He turns his head, scratching the back of his neck. He can feel the blush creeping up his face, and he tries to desperately will it away. “So, um, when you said friends…”

Cas doesn’t answer for a second, and when Dean peeks a look at him to gauge his reaction, the look on his face is one of pure hope.

Before he can answer, though, Gabriel is running over.

“Cassie, I told you to let me talk you up to Dean _before_ you bothered him, you awkward nut!” He exclaims, bouncing between both chairs, unsure of what to do with himself.

“Gabe, your brother is a big boy, he can walk across the street without help and everything! I’m sure he can handle himself.” Dean retorts. He doesn’t know why Gabriel insulting Cas made him feel annoyed, but here he is.

Gabriel gawks at him for a second, before looking to Cas, who just gives him a steely look.

“Well, I can see where I’m not wanted.” Gabriel says after a moment, smirk creeping onto his face. He turns to walk away, but leans in to Cas as he goes past, stage-whispering: “Get in there, bro.”

“I apologize for him.” Cas says, both of them watching Gabriel run across the yard back to the pool. Dean notices that Riley is no longer swimming, and she’d changed into her lilac summer dress. Dean should probably go over there to ask if she’s okay, but a part of him wants to see where this conversation with Cas will end up. “He was… unsure whether you would listen to me at all, but I wanted to try first.”

“Don’t trust Gabe, huh?” Dean grins, but he’s not sure how authentic it is. “Don’t blame ya’.”

Cas gives him a serious look. “It was important to me that you would listen, and I didn’t want to chance Gabriel saying the wrong thing.”

Dean looks down, heart panging at Cas’ words. “Why?” He frowns.

“Because he can be crass and insensitive at times-”

“No, dude, I meant why was it so important to you.” Dean shakes his head, looking away. He sounds like a damn pre-teen fishing for compliments. He genuinely doesn't understand, though. It's not like he and Cas had been BFF's before he found out. 

Cas seems to pause, picking his words carefully. “Because you were friendly to me when you didn’t know who I was, you weren’t just talking to me because you wanted a shot at my fame or money.  It’s refreshing to see that in my line of work.” He says. “It’s also nice to be able to pick my own friends, and not have to waste time with people my agent deems appropriate.”

“You don’t get much free will, do you, Cas?” Dean says, feeling sorry for the guy. He can’t imagine living like that, without even friends to spend time with, just work and fake play.

Cas’ lips turn up into a sardonic smile. “No. But I suppose all the fame and money makes up for it.” He says, not sounding sincere at all.

Dean doesn’t know why, but there’s a part of him that wants to save Cas from it all, tell him to do something for himself, tell him to tell his agent to fuck himself.  

“Does this mean that we can be… friends, now?” Cas asks, somewhat timidly, something rare for an alpha to be.

“I-” Dean pauses. He supposes that they can be friends; what would be the harm? It’s not as though Cas will be here for long. Dean will be fine as long as he doesn’t let his guard down. “Yeah, sure.”

Cas beams then, looking happier than Dean’s ever seen him. The smile on his face isn’t overly large; the emotions showing through his eyes rather than anything else.  “I am glad, Dean.” He says, clasping his hands together.  

There’s another semi-awkward moment where they’re both stuck looking at each other once again, Cas still beaming and Dean smiling back, Cas’ happiness contagious.

“Daddy, daddy!” Riley suddenly shrieks from the other side of the garden, and both Dean and Cas turn to look at her. She’s being held upside down by Sam as he tickles her, skirt of her dress flipped to show the leggings she had on beneath. “Help me!”

Dean looks back at Cas. “I should go and help her.” He says, though makes no move to leave.

“Yes, you should.” Cas answers. He hesitates for a moment before continuing. “I was wondering if you would like to ‘hang out’” Dean can’t believe he’s sitting with someone who’s just used air quotes three times in one conversation. “Sometime. I leave in three weeks.”

Dean feels both elated and disappointed at the same time. “Uh, sure. Text me, okay?” He stands, picking up the empty beer bottle he’d discarded.

“I will.” Cas promises.

****   


“Daddy, you’re not very thneaky.” Are the first words Riley says when they get home after the barbeque.

Dean blinks down at her, surprised. “Why do you say that?”

“You thaid we’re not allowed to play with mithter Cath but I _thaw_ you with him today.” She walks over to the couch, crossing her arms as she sits. “You have thome exthplainin’ to do.” She says in a sing-song voice, tapping her foot on the ground.

Dean smiles at his Riley, amused by her antics. He’s probably biased, but his daughter is definitely the best one around. Dean takes the leftovers Gabe had given them to the kitchen before going to sit on the coffee table opposite Riley.

“We can hang out with Cas now, I thou- me and him had an argument, but now we’re okay. I'm sorry for dragging you into it.” Dean thinks it’s best not to try and explain the whole thing to Riley, not wanting to confuse her. “But he’s only here on holiday, because then he has to go back to work.”

Riley hums, frowning; no doubt upset at the fact that Cas is only here temporarily. “Doeth he build thtuff like you, daddy? Becauthe he can jutht thare your work plathe. He doethn’t have to leave!”

Dean shakes his head. “Cas is an actor. His job is to be on TV.”

Riley’s mouth drops open. “Cath ith on tv?” She asks, wide eyes flickering between Dean and the TV behind him. “Daddy! I want to watch him!”

Dean should have seen this coming.

“Well, I don’t think any of his movies are on TV right at this second, Riley…” Dean says. He thinks he can remember seeing a family friendly movie on Cas’ Wikipedia page, but the likelihood that that movie is on TV right now is pretty slim.

“Oh.” Riley pouts, bottom lip trembling, and Dean feels his resistance breaking.

“But I guess we could watch it on my laptop?” Dean asks, even though he knows what the answer will be.

Riley shrieks, suddenly looking ecstatic. Dean has a feeling that she'd been faking the sad mood to get him to put on the movie. “Really, daddy?”

“Only if you go and tidy the toys you were playing with this morning while I put it on.” Dean barters, trying to at least seem like he’s the boss in this situation.

“Okay!” Riley jumps up and runs off to her bedroom, making nonsensical noises as she goes. Dean doesn’t think he’s ever seen her move so fast.


	5. Chapter 5

It only takes two days for Cas to text him and ask if he wants to hang out. Dean agrees straightaway, even though Cas won’t tell him what he has planned, just that it’s _‘special’_. Dean blatantly ignores the fact that the whole situation is feeling a little date-y. They decide to go during the daytime, so that Riley will be at school. Dean is glad; even though he knows Cas isn’t some wild drunk now, he’s still wary about him spending a lot of time with Riley; he doesn’t want her to get too attached. Dean has to miss work, but he decides it’s worth it. Besides, he deserves a little break after tackling the big sailing boat project.

Dean decides to wear his nice jeans, (nice meaning they only have minimal knee tears) and a purple plaid shirt over and old led zeppelin t-shirt he’s had since tenth grade. Except, when he tries on the t-shirt, it doesn’t fit him anymore, even though he definitely remembers wearing it last Christmas. Dean pinches his stomach with a frown. It doesn’t look any bigger than it usually is.

He wears an AC/DC t-shirt instead, and once he’s satisfied with his hair, goes downstairs to wait for Cas to pick him up. He wonders where Cas is going to take them, but can’t come up with anything that would match Cas’ description and excitement.

“You gotta tell me where we’re goin’, Cas.” Dean says when he gets into Cas’ pimp car in lieu of a greeting.

Cas just smiles faintly, shaking his head as he pulls back onto the road. “I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, Dean.”

They spend the rest of the ride talking about nothing, Cas asking about Riley and Dean asking Cas about other things, like his childhood. The alpha boarding school sounds worse than Dean had even imagined.

 Dean spends most of the drive fighting his nose; using all of his self-restraint to not just stop talking altogether and spend the whole time smelling and gulping in the air, Cas’ scent filling every crevice of the car.

“We’re here.” Cas announces after what feels like hours. Dean eagerly sits forward to see where they are, but frowns when he doesn’t recognize it. They’re parked in front of a large log building with trees all around it, impossible to see anything further than the building. Apart from  Cas’ car, the parking lot is empty.

“Where are we?” Dean asks as they get out of the car. Cas shoots him a sly look and doesn’t answer. He leads them up the steps and into the building.

 _It’s beautiful_ , Dean immediately thinks. The wall that they’re facing isn’t log like the others, instead it’s a floor to ceiling window, the lake and a dock visible through them. The inside is full of tables and chairs, and Dean realizes they’re in a restaurant; a very empty one.

“Uh, shouldn’t the fact that no one is eating here freak you out a little?” Dean asks warily. If a place as nice as this is empty, then the food must be terrible.

Cas chuckles quietly. “It’s not open to the public, yet. An acquaintance of mine is opening it, and wanted me to come and try review it before they open. I thought you would like to come.”

 _Yeah, this is getting date-ier by the second_ , Dean thinks.

“Well, it’s a nice place.” Dean states. Cas smiles at him, pleased at his approval, and leads him to a table near the window. It’s the only table that’s equipped with a dish cloth and silverware.

In no time a waiter comes out of nowhere and places down two plates as well as two drinks. “One peach iced tea, one coke, one roast beef and onion sandwich with chipped potatoes one grilled chicken with Mediterranean vegetables with sweet potato fries.” The waiter announces.

“Which sandwich would you like, Dean?” Cas asks him. Dean quickly points to the beef one, mouth salivating. It’s basically a fancy cheeseburger with fries.

The waiter gives him the sandwich, handing the other to Cas, before disappearing once more.

“Man, this looks so fuckin’ good.” Dean groans, picking up the sandwich and taking a big bite, moaning around it.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” Cas says, sounding slightly strained.

They eat the rest of their lunch with easy conversation, and once they’re finished, Cas leads them out back instead of to the car like Dean had assumed. They walk out onto the dock, sun shining down around them.

Dean wants to ask Cas what’s going on, but decides otherwise. He knows Cas won’t want to ruin the surprise. He doesn’t have to wait long to figure it out, though, because after a few moments of waiting, a boat is suddenly driving up to the dock stopping right in front of them. Behind the boat, two jet skis are being pulled on cords.

“I hope you don’t get sea sick.” Cas winks, but his winking is so bad that it makes him look like a dork.

In a good way.

“Fuck no, dude!” Dean exclaims. “I hope you don’t get lose sick, because I’m totally gonna race your ass.”

Cas raises a challenging eyebrow. “Will you?” He says, and the tone he uses almost makes Dean shiver.

Dean swallows. “I, uh, you bet.”

The boat’s driver gets out and joins them on the deck, and two other people get off the back of the boat and move to get the jet skis.

“Hello, Mr Novak.” The driver greets. “The jet skis are ready and in perfect condition for you and Mr Winchester to use.”

“Excellent.” Cas smiles, hand reaching out to shake the other man’s. Dean watches as Cas slides a tip into the man’s palm. Cas looks back at Dean. “Shall we, Dean?”

“Hell yeah.” Dean grins. They quickly get on the jet skis, and by some miracle don’t fall into the water. A beta comes up to them and gives them both black life jackets.

“I’ll race you to those trees over there.” Cas says, pointing.

Dean switches on the jet ski, smirking. “Get ready to lose.” He yells over the loud engine noise, before speeding away.

“Cheater!” He hears Cas yell from behind him, but Dean doesn’t slow.

Dean is the first to arrive at the trees, and Cas is a graceful loser. After that they race a few more times, sometimes they’ll try and do tricks like drawing figure of eights in the water.

It’s the best time Dean’s had sans-Riley in years.

Afterwards, Cas drives Dean back to his apartment, both of them tired in the best kind of way, and the scents of both of their contentment fills the air. Cas even lets Dean commandeer the music choices, and Dean’s glad that he doesn’t have to listen to rap music again.

“I had a very nice time today, Dean.” Cas tells him when they arrive at Dean’s apartment, and they’re both sitting in the car.

“Me too, Cas.” Dean smiles. “You should tell your friend that owns the restaurant that they have the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.”

“I’ll be sure to pass on the message.” Cas assures. “Would you like to get together tomorrow, also?”

Dean scoffs. “Cas, it’s your vacation. You probably have better things to do than hang out with me.”

“I didn’t ask if it was my vacation or not. I asked if you would like to.”

 _Do I?_ Dean asks himself. Just three days ago Dean had hated the guy, but now he’s apparently on hanging-out-everyday territory?

“I…yeah, sure.” He says, finally.

Cas beams, a pleased look on his face. “Maybe Riley could join us, if you would like. I wouldn’t want you to miss a lot of work because of me.”

“Uh, maybe some other time.” Dean says quickly. “Anyway, uh, speakin’ of Riley it’s probably time I pick her up from school, so I should go.”

Cas nods understandingly. “Another time.” He agrees.

Dean waves as Cas drives away, knowing he probably looks like a dork but not caring one bit.

After that, Dean and Cas hang out a few more times, basically every day (work be damned). By the end of the fourth time, Dean decides to give in and let Riley spend time with them, too. She’d been annoyed when Gabriel told her that Dean had been spending time with Cas without her, and after Cas’ words at the their first hang out, Dean supposes it wouldn’t be the worst thing.

They plan it for Friday night; Cas will pick up Dean from his apartment, then they’ll pick up Riley from school before going to the afternoon kids’ movie at the mall. Riley is more excited than either of them, because they’re going to see Hercules. She’s already seen it at least a hundred times, but she could watch it every day if she could (and yeah, okay, it’s one of Dean’s favorites, too. Who wouldn’t love a movie about an omega god?).

Riley had been more enthusiastic about school that day than any other; her excitement because Cas is picking her up infallible. She’s been thinking about questions she wants to ask him all week, mostly about bees. She can’t wait.

Dean, on the other hand, is apprehensive. He knows the second he and Cas get out of the car that all the other parents will assume that they’re dating, and he doesn’t know how he feels about that.

He doesn’t tell Cas, though. He’d been planning on maybe suggesting that Cas wait in the car while Dean went to get her, but the guy had just looked so excited that Dean couldn’t do it, which is how they’d ended up here.

 _Here_ being outside of the pre-school, waiting for the kids to come out, while Dean is bombared by several of the other parents, all asking how Dean knows _Castiel Novak_ , and _oh my gosh, are you dating_?

Cas stands awkwardly nearby, unsure of whether to intervene. Usually people that recognize him ask for an autograph or a picture, and this is new territory to him.

“Are you going to be moving to LA now, Dean?” One of the parents asks.

“How did _you_ bag Castiel Novak?” Another scoffs, off to the side of the crowd.

That’s when Cas intervenes. He weaves through the parents and puts a hand on the curve of Dean’s back. Dean immediately relaxes, giving Cas a relieved look. “We should go and get Riley now, Dean, or we’ll be late to the movies.” Cas says.

“Sure.” Dean grins. Cas shoves through the parents unceremoniously, hand still on Dean’s back as he guides him through the crowd. Once they’re free, Dean shoots Cas a look. “You seriously have to put up with that on a regular basis?”

Cas grimaces. “You get used to it, I suppose.”

The doors open then, and the kids come rushing out. Most of them are in friend groups, but Riley walks behind them by herself. Sometimes it worries Dean that she doesn’t really have any friends, but everyone else assures that she’ll be okay. Dean isn’t so sure.

Once she spots Dean and Cas, she comes running over, grinning widely, hair flying behind her. Once she’s close enough she jumps up, Dean catching her swiftly in his arms even though she’s heavy as hell these days.

“I’m tho ecthited!” She exclaims, wrapping one arm around Dean’s shoulders. She reaches the other hand towards Cas, holding it up for a high five that Cas immediately returns.

“Did you have fun at school?” Cas asks her, actually sounding interested and not at all faked.

“I painted a picture!” She announces, wriggling from Dean’s arms and jumping to the ground. She opens her backpack and pulls out a slightly crinkled piece of paper, a smudged painting of a bee across it.

“That’s very good, you could be an artist when you’re older!” Cas tells her sincerely.

“You think tho?” Riley gasps.

Cas smiles down at her. “I know so.”

She giggles bashfully, handing the painting to Cas. “I made it for you.”

Cas gives Dean a wide eyed glance, who grins supportively in response. Cas carefully takes the paper from her, looking at her in awe.

“I will cherish it forever.” He tells her seriously.

Riley juts up her chin proudly.

“Well, we should probably get going if we want to make it to the movies on time.” Dean says, picking up Riley’s backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. They walk back to the car unbothered, mostly because Cas is shooting daggers at anyone who even looks in the direction of Dean and Riley.

Cas wonders if Dean can scent his possessiveness. He hopes not.

“Just because he’s an omega, he wants to stay on Earth and be mated rather than be with all the other gods?” Cas asks, unconvinced. They’re in the middle of watching Hercules, Dean sat in the middle of Cas and Riley. Cas had been enjoying it so far, until the part where Hercules decides to stay on earth instead of living with the other gods. “They do realize that omegas have other things on their minds other than romance, don’t they?”

“You’d be surprised, buddy.” Dean snorts. He’s surprised at Cas’ reaction; he’s never met an alpha before who doesn’t think that all omegas dream of the perfect mate and are desperate to start a family, except Sam. It’s refreshing, Dean thinks.

Cas frowns, but doesn’t reply. He watches the rest of the movie quietly, a strange look on his face. Dean wonders what he’s thinking about.

“Did ya’ like it, Cath?” Riley asks once the movie is over, jumping excitedly. Dean realizes it might have been a bad idea to let her have so much sugar at this time of day.

Cas pauses for a moment, unsure of whether to lie or be honest to her. He finally sets on: “I… was’t sure about the ending. Otherwise I enjoyed it very much.”

Riley frowns. “You didn’t like the end?”

“I think Hercules would have been happier with all the other gods, like he sang about at the start.” Cas tells her as they begin to walk out of the cinema. “He wasn’t happy with being human in the beginning, so why would his opinion change once he meets Megara?”

They discuss the movie as they walk the short distance to the pizza parlor, Riley walking in the middle holding Dean’s hand.

“Daddy, thwingth?” She asks suddenly. Dean shoots a glance at Cas, who looks unbothered.

“Uh, you’ll have to ask Cas.” Dean tells her. She turns to look at him with puppy eyes.

“Cath, will you do thwing with daddy?”

Cas gives Dean a confused look.

“It’s when two people hold a kid’s hand and swing the kid between them.” Dean says. Cas’ face lightens, and he immediately holds out a long-fingered hand for Riley to hold. Riley grins as she takes it, holding on tight to both of their hands.

“Ready?” Dean asks her. She quickly nods, a look of concentration on her face. Dean turns to Cas and swiftly tells him what to do, so that they don’t end up dropping Riley or something. “One, two, three!” Dean and Cas lift Riley up by the hands, and she lifts up her knees and swings between them, squealing. She lands smoothly, to Dean’s relief.

“That wath fun!” Riley grins at Dean and Cas. They begin walking once again, but Riley doesn’t let go of Cas’ hand. Dean doesn’t know what’s worse; the fact that other people might think they’re a family, or that Riley might start to think that.

They get to the pizza parlor in no time, and to make things even worse, the waitress, who’s at least fifty, that takes them to their table thinks Dean and Cas are a couple.

“Y’all are so cute together!” She smiles as they sit down. Dean sits in one booth, and to his surprise, Cas sits down next to him. Riley goes to the other side, seemingly happy at being able to sit with her legs up.

The waitress bends closer to Riley as she places the menus on the table. “You’re lucky to have such handsome dads, sweetie.” She winks.

Riley, the troublemaker, doesn’t even correct her, instead giggling and saying: “Thank you, ma’am. They’re not ath cute ath me, though.”

“And you’re so polite!” The waitress exclaims. “You did a good job with this one,” She tells them, nudging Cas with her elbow.

Cas frowns, mouth opening to say something, but Dean beats him to it. “We already know what we want; one just cheese pizza and one meat lover’s, with two peach iced teas and a coke.”

The waitress seems to notice that Dean is trying to get her to go away, either by his words or by the slightly harsh tone of voice, and does so quickly. “I’ll be right back with those drinks.”

Dean glances at Cas, and sees the man is watching him, a weirdly fond look on his face.

“What?” Dean asks.

“You remembered what drink I like.” Cas says with a pleased smile.

“Uh, yeah…” Dean answers, unsure of what to say. Is it weird that he’d remembered what drink Cas likes? Surely not.

Cas doesn’t reply, still smiling at Dean. They stare at each other for a few moments, before Dean feels too awkward and looks away, turning his attention to Riley.

“So, did you have fun playing soccer today?”

Riley nods eagerly. “I thcored two timeth!”

“You play soccer?” Cas asks, again obviously interested in hearing about Riley’s life and not pretending. Dean remembers Aaron was the exact opposite.

“Uh huh. I’m on the team! You thould come to watch me play thometime!” She exclaims, drumming excited fists on the table.

Cas looks to Dean for approval, but Dean ignores it. He doesn’t want to think about how Cas probably won’t be able to watch any of her games because he’ll be going home in two weeks.

“Yeah, you might get to see her punching a kid from the other team in the face again.” Dean jokes instead. In hindsight, Dean probably should have waited until she’s older to teach her to fight.

The waitress returns then with their drinks, sliding the peach teas in front of Riley and Cas, and giving Dean the coke. She gives them a wink before walking off again.

They talk for a few more minutes, until their peace is disrupted once more, this time by a teenager with sleek black hair and thick glasses.

“Um, I’m sorry to bother you but can I get a picture with you, Castiel?” She asks in a soft voice. Cas glances at Dean apologetically before answering.

“Of course.” He smiles. He gets up, and the fan quickly takes the picture.

“Could you please sign my phone, too?” She asks, holding out a sharpie that looks brand new. “I went to the stationary store next door to buy it when I saw you here.” She admits.

Cas takes her phone and writes his name on the back, handing it back to her.

“Why do you want my Cath to draw on your cellphone?” Riley suddenly demands, crossing her arms. _My Cas_? What next, is she going to call him papa?

The fan looks awkwardly between Cas and Riley. “Uh, I didn’t know you were mated and had a pup.” She states.

Cas frowns. “I’m not-”

“You didn’t anthwer my quethtion.” Riley reminds petulantly. Dean wonders who she’d learnt that from.

Probably Sam.

“Uh, I like your… dad… on tv, and I wanted to get a picture to remember that I met him.” The fan awkwardly explains.

Riley narrows her eyes, but after a few moments, she nods, turning her attention to the pictures on the wall next to her.

“It was nice to meet you.” The fan says, before turning away and almost running out of the pizza parlor.

“I apologize, Dean, I will make sure it won’t happen again-” Cas assures, sounding worried.

“Cas, man, it’s fine.” Dean cuts him off, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I get it.”

“ _We_ get it.” Riley corrects.

Cas seems overwhelmed for a moment, eyes wide as he looks between Riley and Dean. It looks like he’s going to start crying, so it’s a relief for all of them that the waitress chooses that time to return with their pizzas.

Cas is smiling throughout the rest of dinner.

After Dean puts Riley to bed that night, he joins Cas on the couch. Dean feels slightly awkward having Cas in his cramped apartment while he’s living it up in mansions, but Cas doesn’t seem whatsoever fazed.

“So…that was fun.” Dean says.

Cas smiles, turning his head to look at Dean. “Yes. It was very enjoyable.”

Dean nods, relaxing back into the couch. Cas had turned on the TV while he’d been putting Riley to bed, and some nature documentary is playing on screen.

“You wanna hang out tomorrow?” Dean asks, glancing over at Cas. The other man looks hopeful for a minute, before frowning once again.

“I cannot.  I have to be in Los Angeles to attend my movie premier.”

Dean doesn’t remember seeing anything about an upcoming movie when he’d googled Cas, but that could be because it hadn’t been public knowledge yet, or something. “What movie?”

“The Pink Man,” Cas tells him. “I did it alongside Marc Jason.”

Dean gapes. “ _Marc Jason_? You did a movie with _Dr Sexy_?” He exclaims. Cas knows Dr Sexy? Cas is going to a premier that Dr Sexy is going to be at?

“I didn’t know you watched Dr Sexy, MD, Dean.” Cas says, with a hint of amusement. “But yes, him. He’s very nice.”

“Dude, I’m so freakin’ jealous.” Dean admits. He doesn’t want to be famous, but damn, he wouldn’t mind going to a movie premier full of hot celebrities.

“It isn’t as glamorous as it seems, trust me.” Cas says tiredly. “First I have walk the carpet and talk to evereyone, then I have to pose for pictures for what seems like hours, then I must do interviews. It’s an abomination.”

“Tell me what you really feel, Cas.” Dean snorts. “If it’s that bad, why do you even do it?”

Cas sighs. “I fear I’m being dramatic. They’re just very tedious, especially when you don’t have anyone to get your mind off of it, I-” He stops, glancing at Dean with wide eyes. “You should come with me.” He says surely.

Dean’s mouth dropped open. “I- you, we-” He doesn’t know what to say. Is Cas honestly inviting him to a movie premier?

As his date, or as his friend?

Cas doesn’t notice Dean’s turmoil. “It would be very amenable if you came, Dean, then I would have someone to talk to, and sit with!”

“Uh-” Dean replies, eloquent as ever.

Cas continues. “But then again, I suppose it’s slightly short notice, and you have Riley to think of…” He places his finger on his chin, deep in thought.

Dean doesn’t know what to say, so he decides to pick the dumbest answer he can, and says: “I’ll come with you.”

Cas perks up immediately, looking at Dean with wide, hope-filled eyes. “You will?”

Dean shrugs. “May as well. Mom’s been askin’ when Riley can sleep at hers next.”

“Dean that is…wonderful.” Cas tells him, beaming. Dean turns his head, trying to stave away both his blush and the butterflies curling in his stomach.

“Aren’t you worried about, you know, what the tabloids are gonna say?” Dean asks hesitantly. The last thing he needs is the media announcing that he’s latest bunk buddy or something.

Cas tips his head to the side, eyebrows drawing together. “Why would I worry about that?”

“Never mind.” Dean dismisses, shaking his head. He decides to change the subject instead: “You’ll introduce me to Dr Sexy, right?”

“Dean, his name is Marc.”

Dean waves a hand. “Tomato, tomato. Do you think he’ll wear cowboy boots to the premier?”

Cas gives him a ' _don't ask stupid questions_ ' look, and Dean takes that as a no. Cas is about to say something when his phone starts ringing, and he pulls it out, squinting at the screen.

“It’s my agent, probably calling to talk about the premier.” Cas says, standing up. “I’d better go, I will call you tomorrow with the details.”

 _Don’t go!_ Dean wants to tell him, _nature documentaries are on all night! Stay here!_

He settles on “Oh, okay,”, before reaching towards Cas and pulling him into a hug automatically. Cas freezes for a moment, but then relaxes into the hug.

 _Why the hell did I just hug him?_ Dean screams to himself. Not that he didn’t _want_ to- it’s just that this hug decidedly does not feel friendly. It feels much more than that, and Dean and Cas are not more than that. _  
_

When they pull apart a few seconds later, the hug definitely much longer than needed, Cas has a face-splitting smile. They look at each other for a moment, before they awkwardly gesture at each other to go to the door. Walking over, Cas glances at Dean.

“Goodbye, Dean.” He says, opening the door. “I will see you tomorrow.”

“Uh, yeah.” Dean breathes, grinning airily. He reaches to hold the door handle, but ends up grabbing Cas’ hand, that’s on the handle already, instead. He quickly moves away, face aflame. “See ya tomorrow.”

Cas smiles once more, looking at Dean for a few moments before disappearing down the hall. Dean closes the door behind him, resting his forehead on the wood.

“I’m fucked.” He mutters.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Mary had picked up Riley early that morning, leaving Dean alone to get ready for the premier. Unfortunately, Dean doesn’t know jack shit about what people are supposed to wear to those things.

He has to take drastic measures.

 _Charlie, I need help_ , he texts. _What am I supposed to wear to a movie premier?_

Charlie doesn’t even answer; instead she shows up at Dean’s apartment not even thirty minutes later, panting.

“I probably shouldn’t run this fast while pregnant,” She wheezes as she pushes past Dean into the apartment. Another person breezes in after her, and Dean frowns.

“Who’s this?” He asks, closing the door.

“This is Gilda. She’s a tailor, she’s the one who makes the amazing Moondor costumes.” Charlie explains. Gilda smiles next to her, an armful of garment bags clutched in her arms.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Gilda tells Dean.

“Uh, yeah, you too.” Dean replies, still unsure of why she’s at his apartment.

“I ran over to Gilda’s the second you texted me, because I know you don’t have any nice suits except for the one you wore to Benny’s wedding years ago.” Charlie tells him, taking three of the bags from Gilda. “I needed to get you a suit for my wedding, anyway, so this works out perfectly.”

“I brought along an Armani, a Gucci and a Vivienne Westwood.” Gilda states. “Once you choose the one you want, I can tailor it and have it ready in half an hour.”

Dean pauses. _Aren’t those ridiculously expensive designer brands?_

Gilda and Charlie quickly pull out the suits from the bags, walking into Dean’s bedroom and hanging them up on the wardrobe door.

“Which one do you like best?” Charlie asks, gesturing to them.

Dean rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “Uh, Charlie, I don’t think they’re in my price range-”

“Price range, smish range.” Charlie scoffs, waving a dismissive hand. “This is my gift to you, so that you look amazing at the premier _and_ my wedding.” She moves to turn around, but seems to suddenly remember something and turns back. “Don’t think you can get away without telling me how the hell you’re going to a premier, either. Once you choose the suit I’m _on_ you.”

“I…” Dean doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t receive extravagant gifts often, and he doesn’t know how to convey to Charlie how grateful he is,  how much this means to him, how much he loves her. “Thanks, Charlie.” He settles for in the end, pathetically. Charlie seems to understand what he’s trying to say, though.

Charlie winks, then turns to the suits. They’re three different colors, one charcoal grey, one navy and one black. “I also have ties.” She tells him.

“I think I like the grey one the best.” Dean decides after a few moments.

Gilda grins. “Great choice.” She goes back to Charlie and pulls out another garment bag. “I suggest this Ted Baker shirt to go with it.” She says, pulling out a crisp white shirt.

Dean agrees, and takes the shirt and suit into the bathroom to try them on. Charlie comes in once he’s got them on, holding up two ties; one pale green, the other black.

“I think the green one is so beautiful, don’t you?” Charlie hints, winking. Dean takes it from her and ties it around his neck, before turning to the full-length mirror by the sink.

“How do I look?” He asks, turning side to side.

Charlie puts her hands on her chest, letting out a mock-wistful sigh. “My boy’s all grown up. You look amazing.” She tells him, before running out.

Dean grins bashfully, but he has to agree. This suit is amazing.

Charlie returns with a shoe box. “Armani shoes, of course.”

Once Dean has the shoes on, they go back to the bedroom and Gilda pins the jacket so it fits him like a glove.

“I’ll be back within the hour.” Gilda tells them once Dean has the suit off and Gilda’s packed the garment bags once more.

Dean checks his watch. Cas would be coming to get him in an hour, but he supposes it’ll only take him a few minutes to put on the suit when she comes back.

Once Gilda leaves, Charlie is on him as promised.

“How the fuck did you score premier tickets?” She exclaims. “Which premier? Who are you going with?”

Dean reaches out and grabs her shoulder. “Breathe, Charlie.”

Charlie exhales, and Dean gestures for her to sit on the couch.

“I’m going with Cas.” Dean says, sitting next to her. “It’s for his new movie the pink man or something. Marc Jason is going to be there!”

Charlie’s eyes widen. “I- you- I don’t even know where to freaking begin!” She exclaims. “Are you _dating_ Castiel Novak?”

“No,” Dean replies, word heavy in his mouth. “We’re going as friends.”

Charlie raises an unconvinced eyebrow. “Just friends who go on lakeside lunch dates and to movie premiers together?”

Dean rolls his eyes. “We’re not together.”

“But you want to be.” She surmises, crossing her arms.

 “He’s going home in two weeks, Charlie. It doesn’t matter what I want.” Dean sighs, leaning back into the couch and reaching for the remote. He puts on Dr Sexy just to have some background noise.

“Yeah, ‘cause long-distance relationships aren’t a thing.” Charlie retorts, sarcasm dripping off her words.

“Maybe we’re just meant to be friends, you ever think of that?” Dean bites back bitterly.

“Why are you fighting it so much, Dean?”

“Why are _you_ fighting it so much?” Dean replies, always one with good comebacks.

“Fine.” Charlie says, throwing her arms up in defeat. “I see you’re not going to open up about it, but I’m telling you now: you and Cas are gonna end up together.”

“What, because alphas and omegas can’t be friends without it meaning something?”

“No, Dean, because you obviously like him.” Charlie smirks. “But hey, at least it made you forget about the hot alpha that bought that boat off of you.”

Dean turns away. “About that…”

Charlie frowns for a moment, until it clicks. “That was _Cas_?” She yells excitedly. “Damn, I totally need to up my bet with Gabriel. I can get big money off of this once you get together.”

“Well, maybe I won’t get with him now that I know it’ll make you lose money.” Dean tells her defiantly.

“Yeah, maybe.” Charlie scoffs, skeptically. “So, tell me more about tonight.”

“Cas is pickin’ me up at four, then we’re going down to LA just in time for the premier, then we’re staying at the four seasons.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a date at all.”

“Whatever, you’re just jealous that I’m going to meet Dr Sexy.”

“Yeah, right-” Charlie pauses. “No wait, I actually am jealous. You better get a picture with him, Winchester. Or his number.” She wiggles her eyebrows.

Dean throws a cushion at her.

“Fuck, man, why did I agree to this.” Dean groans, looking through the window of the limo they’re currently in, waiting for their turn to step out onto the red carpet. He can hear the deafening screams from here, fans chanting and yelling for their favorite actors.

“Because you’re a good friend.” Cas replies, looking through the window in a much calmer manner than Dean. “And it’s too late to change your mind now.”

Dean can only hope that Cas doesn’t ditch him on the red carpet while he does interviews, because Dean might have some sort of aneurysm.

“Mr Novak, are you ready?” The driver’s voice comes through the intercom.

“Yes, we are.” Cas replies back, and the limo pulls forward.

“Wait, wait,” Dean panics. “What do I do if someone asks me a question? What if I freakin’ fall over in front of everyone?”

Cas turns to him and holds his chin, making Dean look him in the eyes. “You will be fine, Dean.” He assures, his grasp on Dean’s face strong yet gentle at the same time. Cas pulls his hand away slowly, fingers trailing against Dean’s jaw.

Dean gulps in a mouthful of air, nodding. “I’ll be fine.” He repeats.

The limo stops once again, and Cas reaches out to squeeze his knee. The door on Cas’ side suddenly opens, and Dean is immediately bombarded with flashing lights and even louder screams. Cas gets out of the car, nodding to the beta who’d opened the door, before reaching a hand back to Dean. Blushing, Dean grabs his hand and Cas helps him out of the limo.

To Dean’s disappointment, Cas let’s go of his hand once Dean’s out of the limo, but he supposes it’s because he doesn’t want the fans and media to get the wrong idea.

The limo pulls away, and the fans scream once they spot Cas walking down the carpet.

 _Fuck, Cas is way more famous than I thought_ , Dean realizes with wide eyes. He slows down, overwhelmed as he looks around at all the fans and celebrities. _This is crazy_.

 Cas walks a few steps until he realizes that Dean is no longer following him, and walks back, grasping Dean’s bicep. “Are you okay, Dean?” He asks, looking concerned.

Dean nods jerkily, but he must not look convincing, as Cas’ frowns in front of him. “We can leave if you need to, Dean, I have no problems with that-”

“No, no!” Dean answers quickly. “It’s just… overwhelming, a little.” He admits.

“I apologize, Dean, I forgot that you’ve never experienced anything like this before. It can be daunting to newcomers.” Cas tells him, thumb stroking Dean’s arm, barely noticing he’s doing so. “If you need to leave at any time, please tell me.” He says firmly.

Dean nods once more. “I- think I’m okay, now.”

Cas smiles encouragingly, his hand sliding from Dean’s bicep to his back once more, and Dean swears it leaves a trail of goosebumps.

They begin walking once more, Cas waving at a few of the fans, even greeting some of them; but his hand doesn’t move from Dean’s back.

Dean thinks he might faint, not from the fans, but from Cas’ protective touch.

They interact with the fans for a while longer, or Cas does, anyway, while Dean stands beside him smiling somewhat awkwardly. The fans eye him curiously, a few of them taking pictures.

“Now’s the boring part.” Cas tells Dean when they get to the part of the carpet with the photographers. There’s a large wall set up for them to stand in front of, sponsors logos displayed across it as well as the movie’s title.

“Castiel! Over here!” One of them shouts. Dean thinks Cas will walk in front of the wall and Dean will just wait for him off to the side somewhere, but to his surprise, Cas pulls him in front of the cameras with him.

“Relax, Dean.” Cas whispers to him without moving his mouth from a smile. Dean does his best to do so, trying to will his breathing to slow to a normal rate. He grins at the cameras, trying not to blink at the blinding lights.

“Who’re you with, Castiel?” A few of them shout, but Cas ignores them, instead guiding Dean further down the carpet so the next photographers can get a better angle.

“Are you Cas’ new bed buddy?” One of the photographers yells at Dean, making a few of the others laugh loudly.

Cas holds Dean tighter to him, scowling at the man who’d shouted. “No, he’s not.” Cas growls.

And, yeah, fuck, if Cas carries on like this, Dean’s going to start leaking slick all over his expensive Armani pants.

They move down to the last part of the wall, Cas shooting an angry look at the rowdy photographers as he passes them.  The next round of photographers are a lot louder, yelling different poses and commands and questions;

“Nice, Castiel! Give us some big smiles!”

“What’s your friend called, Castiel?”

Somewhere between the fans and the photographer’s, Cas’ hand had moved from the small of Dean’s back to around his waist, and he squeezes Dean’s hip supportively.

“Dean Winchester.” Dean says, and a new round of flashes assaults them. Cas smiles at him with a weird expression, something that looks like pride, or happiness.

“Hey, Castiel! Maybe some single pictures?” One photographer suggests, and a few others agree.

“No, thank you.” Cas replies.

“C’mon, Dean, step aside so we can get some better pictures!” The guy continues. Dean moves to step away, but Cas’ tightens his hold.

“Don’t let them tell you what to do, Dean.” Cas tells him softly. 

They pose for a little longer, before one of Cas’ handlers come up and tell him it’s time for his interviews.

“Uh, do you want me to wait somewhere else while you do this?” Dean says when they walk over to the right place, celebrities and cameras and crowds everywhere.

Cas looks at him, concerned. “Why would I want that?”

“Uh, I dunno. Just thought maybe you’d wanna do it yourself instead of havin’ me trailing behind you like a tail.” Dean chuckles awkwardly.

“No, I would like you there.” Cas says. “Unless you would prefer to wait somewhere else.”

Dean is about to say no when someone walks up to them, pulling Cas away from Dean and into a tight hug.

“Castiel!” The person exclaims. “It’s great to see you again.”

“And you, Marc.” Cas answers, and Dean frowns at the sudden change in Cas. It’s as though there’s suddenly a mask over his face, making him look colder than normal, expressionless.

Cas pulls back and immediately steps back towards Dean. “Dean, this is Marc Jason. Marc, this is Dean Winchester.” He introduces.

Dean gapes. He hadn’t realized who the guy hugging Cas was, but now it’s glaringly obvious. Dr Sexy is standing _right there_ , in front of him.

“Uh, hi.” Dean says, and thanks his lucky stars that he didn’t call him doctor. “I, uh, liked you on Dr Sexy.” He tells him.

Marc grins, and they shake hands. “It’s nice to meet you, Dean.”

It’s not as magical as Dean had envisioned, seeing Marc without his white coat and cowboy boots is kind of like seeing Mickey Mouse in Disneyland without his costume.

“How’s vacation, Castiel?” Marc asks.

“Oh, it’s very nice. I’m enjoying myself immensely.” Cas tells him. Dean swears that Cas looks bored, but he can’t really tell. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but I need to go and speak with E! News.”

Marc nods. “See ya, Castiel.”

Cas smiles and Marc walks away. Immediately Cas deflates, relaxing.

“Uh, what the hell was that, Cas?” Dean asks.

“What was what?” Cas replies, looking at Dean with confusion.

“That.” Dean gestures between Cas and Marc’s retreating form. “You were totally Mr Roboto-ing that dude!”

“I don’t understand.”

“You just… act differently with co-workers, I guess.”

“I suppose I act different depending on who I’m with and my comfort levels with them.” Cas replies breezily. “The E! News presenter is free, we should go over there.”

Dean’s heart clenches at the fact that Cas must feel comfortable with him, more comfortable than he does with a co-worker he’s known for months.

He doesn’t know what to feel about that, but the butterflies in his stomach are sure having a field day.

“Hi, Castiel!” The E! News presenter greets when they get there, a beta woman with long, brown hair and a low-cut red dress. “I’m Giuliana Rancic.”

“Hello, Giuliana.” Cas says, and Dean notices that Cas is acting different once more, but this time more formally. “This is Dean.” He continues, before she can ask him.

Giuliana’s eyes flicker over Dean for a moment, and Dean can almost see the dollar signs in her eyes, along with curiosity. “Are you… together?”

“Yes, we did come here together.” Cas smiles, evading the question on purpose. An assistant walks over and whispers in her ear. She looks disappointed for a moment, before turning back to Dean and Cas.

“Apparently I can’t ask about that anymore,” She laughs. “But let me just say you two are so cute together!”

Dean and Cas both smile in return, not bothering to correct her. She asks a few questions about the movie that Cas answers smoothly.

“So, were there any crazy moments on set, you know, like bathing in jell-o?”

“No, it was a very calm, organized set. The other actors were very professional.” Cas answers, and Giuliana looks disappointed once more, like she’d expected differently from Cas.

She asks a few more and then the interview is over, and Cas tells his assistant that he won’t be doing anymore interviews. They finally get off the red carpet, and end up in the lobby of the theatre. A sign on the wall says the movie is starting in ten minutes, and only a few of the guests still mill around in here.

Dean and Cas walk over to the concession stand and get a tub of popcorn as well as two cokes, and make their way into the screening room. Their seats are at the very back, where not many people have chosen to sit. Dean wonders why Cas had chosen to sit here, especially when he could have gotten seats anywhere being the lead actor of the movie.

“So,” Dean begins as they sit down. “I thought you said your manager wants you to seem like a bad boy? That wasn’t bad, Cas. You were polite as hell.”

“Yes, well. I was supposed to tell her about how I was apparently in rehab but got kicked out, and now I’m on a marijuana drug retreat in Colorado.” Cas tells him, glancing away. “But then that would have reflected badly on you.”  

Dean doesn’t like that one bit- he doesn’t want to come between Cas and his career. He doesn’t care if he looks bad, because if the people he cares about know the truth, then it doesn’t really matter to him. “Cas-”

“I’m tired, Dean.” Cas says, looking at Dean once more, his eyes full of fatigue. “I don’t like pretending anymore. I want to be a role-model; a good influence. I don’t like people thinking I’m a delinquent. I’ve had enough of Zachariah telling me what to do.”

“Cas, man, are you sure? You could lose your whole career-”

“What’s meant to happen will happen, I suppose.” Cas shrugs. “My perspective has changed, recently.” He continues, and Dean wonders if Cas knows he’s making absolutely no sense or if it’s an accident.

Dean doesn’t get to ask what he means, because the lights dim and the movie begins playing before he gets the chance to.

“I hope you enjoy the movie, Dean.” Is the last thing Cas says, smiling at Dean once more before turning his attention to the movie.

Dean sits back in his seat. The movie starts with a shower scene of Cas, so yeah, Dean is enjoying it.

 _You’re just friends, you shouldn’t enjoy that, Dean,_ the annoying voice in his head says.

Dean eats an angry handful of popcorn, frowning at the screen, then he feels bad for hogging the popcorn so he nudges Cas with his elbow, offering up the popcorn bucket.

Cas looks at him softly, taking a handful of popcorn before handing the tub back to Dean, hands brushing unnecessarily.

In the middle of the movie, Dean realizes that Cas has a sex scene, and this get nightmarish for a second. He’s internally freaking out, panicking that he might start liking watching Cas doing the sex scene and start leaking slick, or worse, start leaking slick and Cas _noticing._

Thankfully, Cas excuses himself to the bathroom before the raunchiness reaches full capacity, an annoyingly adorable bashful blush on his face as he excuses himself, saying he can’t watch himself having a sex scene.

And yeah, Dean might get a little flustered when Cas’ character starts taking his clothes off and having sex with his on-screen boyfriend (Dean is definitely _not_ jealous), but that’s just for him to know.

When Cas returns he sits closer than he did before, and their shoulders and biceps lean against each other’s for the rest of the movie.

They don’t get to the Four Seasons until late that night, having to spend time talking to several of Cas’ co-workers as well as the director after the movie, and then getting caught by fans as they leave. It had been nice to watch Cas interact with his fans, taking pictures and signing autographs, but Dean doesn’t know how Cas can do it fulltime. Dean’s only had to experience it for one night and he’s tired as hell- no wonder Cas is on vacation.

“Hello, Mr and Mr Novak.” One of the hotel’s staff members greets them when they walk in, handing Cas a keycard. “We’ve got you a suite as requested, the last one available. Your bags are already up there. If you’d like anything, we have a twenty-four hour concierge on call.”

“Thank you.” Cas says.

“Wait, did she just call us Mr and Mr Novak?” Dean frowns in the elevator, words not registering until now.

“Yes. Does it bother you?” Cas asks, an amused tilt to his lips.

“Uh _, yeah_ it does. If we got married, we’d definitely be Winchesters, not Novaks.” Dean jokes. (Or okay, not really jokes. He’s being one hundred percent serious.”

“Novak-Winchesters?” Cas offers.

“Nah. Winchester sounds better.” Dean winks. Cas rolls his eyes as they walk into their room, and suddenly they both come to a stop.

It isn’t just a suite. It’s the honeymoon suite, complete with champagne, heart-shaped pillows and chocolate on the burgundy bed spread.

“Uh, you sure this is the right room, Cas?” Dean asks.

“Yes, I believe so,” Cas replies, gesturing to their bags that had been placed beneath the window. “I’m afraid that they must have misunderstood.”

“No wonder they called us Mr and Mr Novak.” Dean snorts, walking over to the bed and picking up one of the chocolates and eating it. “Good chocolate, though.”

“Dean, I can go and get a different room,” Cas offers awkwardly, but Dean just ignores him as he flops down onto the bed, groaning.

“Memory foam, dude.” He groans, closing his eyes. “Fuck getting another room.”

Cas hesitantly closes the door, walking into the room. Suddenly, his cellphone starts ringing, and he grimaces as he pulls out his phone.

“Hello, Zachariah.” Cas says in a bitter voice. Dean sits up, wanting to hear what’s going on. “Yes, I realize that-” Dean can hear Zachariah yelling through the cell phone. “No, I frankly _don’t_ care, Zachariah. I’ve had enough of manipulating people.” More yelling, even louder this time. “Then you can find someone else, goodbye.” Cas hangs up the phone, throwing it into the corner.

“Uh, did you just fire your agent?” Dean asks slowly.

“I believe he may have been the one firing me.” Cas replies, a little dazedly, sitting on the end of the bed.

“And, uh, how do you feel about that?” Dean asks, unsure of what to do.

“I feel…” Cas pauses, turning around to look at Dean. He smiles, a small ghost of a smile, before replying. “Liberated.”

Dean doesn’t know if that’s good or bad, so he suggests the only thing he knows that will make things better: “We should crack open the minibar.”

Cas’ smile grows even larger. “Yes, we should.”

This is how, an hour later, both of them are drunk and surrounded by empty bottles and cans of peanuts. They’ve changed into boxers and t-shirts, and Dean can say it’s the most comfortable he’s been in years.

“We are so Ross and Rachel in the Las Vegas episode right now, man.” Dean chuckles. They’re both lying down on the bed on their backs, staring up at the ceiling. Dean’s glad it’s not mirrored.

“No, we’re Cas and Dean.” Cas replies, and Dean can tell without looking at him that he’s frowning. “Did you forget?”

“It’s a TV show, man.” Dean sighs with mock-exasperation, making Cas chuckle- though it sounded more like a giggle.

“I can’t believe I fired Zachariah,” Cas suddenly groans, turning onto his side. “I’m never going to get a role again.”

“Well, I can’t believe that I’m drunk in a honeymoon suite with a guy that I hated last week, while my kid is hours away.” Dean counters, turning so that he mirrors Cas’ position and placing his arm beneath his head. It’s a little awkward lying so that they’re facing each other, because the only thing the both of them can really look at is each other.

“Where is her other parent?” Cas asks, before biting his lip. “I apologize. I’m much more inquisitive now that I’m inebriated, you don’t have to answer.”

“I dunno where he is, man.”  Dean laughs, although the situation isn’t funny whatsoever; it’s more of a nervous reaction.

“Did he leave you?” Cas asks, his tone a mixture of anger and incredulousness.

Dean snorts. “You could say that, yeah.”

Cas frowns. “What?”

Dean lifts his head, pulling out one of the pillows and placing it over his head. “I was at a party. Passed out. Woke up pregnant.” He mumbles. He wants Cas to know, for some reason, but he doesn’t want Cas to think less of him, or worse; Cas to think less of Riley.

Cas doesn’t do that, though. Instead, he gently pulls the pillow away from Dean and places it beneath his head once more, before softly cupping Dean’s jaw. Dean looks at Cas, and the barely-masked anger on his face surprises him.

Cas seems to struggle with deciding what to say for a few moments. Finally, he decides on: “I’m sorry, Dean. That must have been very hard for you to go through.” He says quietly, though inside, he’s ready to track down the person that did this to Dean and kill them.

Dean shrugs in lieu of a reply, averting his eyes. Cas studies his expression for a second, before taking his hand off of Dean’s jaw, instead moving to wrap both of his arms around Dean in a tight, somewhat awkward, hug.

After at least a minute of Cas not pulling away, Dean finally relaxes into the hug, fisting Cas’ t-shirt with one hand and wrapping the other arm around Cas. His head finds its way buried into the crook of Cas’ neck, and he lets out a shaky exhale.

They don’t move for the rest of the night.


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing Dean’s aware of when he wakes up is how _comfortable_ he is. He’s warm, for one thing, but also comfortable in a non-physical way, too, but he doesn’t know how to explain it other than to say it feels really _, really_ good. The surprising thing is that he’s aware of exactly what’s happening, remembers exactly how he’d gotten into such a comfortable position- and he’s not freaking out.

Okay, he’s not freaking out _a lot_.

A lot of omegas have alpha friends that they get drunk with, go on datey not-dates with and cuddle in honeymoon suites together, right?

Right. Because that’s all it is, and nothing more, because he and Cas aren’t more than friends, and this is just a one-off, however good it feels. He and Cas are just friends, and in two weeks, Cas will be going back to wherever he lives and they’ll probably never see each other again, which Dean is totally fine with.

Fine, maybe he is freaking out. He can keep it internal, though, because he’s cool like that. For now, he’ll just enjoy himself while the moment lasts.

He can feel Cas’ hands on his back, arms still tightly wrapped around him. Cas’ head is nestled above his, and Dean can feel Cas’ breath as it ghosts through his hair. From his heavy, even breathing, Dean guesses that he’s still asleep. Knowing this, Dean finds it easier to burrow closer to Cas’ forehead resting on his chest.

No one will ever know, so what’s the difference, right?

Cas makes a content noise, still asleep, and pulls Dean even closer.

Dean wonders if this is what it feels like to be mated. If so, then it’s not as bad as he’d thought.

Cas groans a little while later, shifting and stretching out his back, signalling that he’s awake. Dean doesn’t know how long it’s been since he himself had woken up, it could be anywhere between five minutes and an hour.

Cas groans, reaching up one of his hands to rub his eyes. “Ugh,”

“Not a morning person?” Dean mumbles, not moving from his position.

“Definitely not.” Cas mutters in reply, returning his hand to where it had been resting on Dean’s back. His thumb strokes Dean for a moment, before stilling once more. “Especially not when I’m hungover and agentless.”

Dean doesn’t know if he feels bad or happy about that, yet; on one hand, Dean’s happy for him, happy that he doesn’t have to lie and pretend to be a bad person when he’s so obviously not, but he also feels bad that this will probably affect Cas’ career. He can’t help but feel at fault, for some reason. It wasn’t until Cas became friends with Dean that he quit, after all.

They’re silent for a few moments, basking in the peacefulness. Dean supposes that it should be weird, lying here, basically _cuddling_ with his alpha friend, but he can’t find it in himself to care.

“What are you gonna do about the whole agent thing?” Dean asks after a while.

Cas exhales, an almost-sigh. “There’s not much I can do. I have a movie coming up soon that I’ve already signed the contract for, but after that…” He pauses. “I’m not sure.”

The phone rings, and Cas reaches behind Dean to grab the phone off of the bedside table, pulling the both of them impossibly closer.

“Hello?” He answers, voice still groggy. “Wake up call-? Oh, yes. Thank you. I’m not sure, hang on.” He turns back to Dean. “What would you like for breakfast?”

Dean thinks for a moment, before replying: “Waffles and bacon.”

Cas says their order into the phone, hanging up and moving back to where he’d been before. This surprises Dean; he’d thought for sure that Cas would move away, now, would start to feel weird about the whole situation.

“This is nice,” Cas hums, and Dean’s mouth goes dry. He doesn’t know what to say. If it hadn’t been weird before, then it definitely is now. Cas bringing attention to it like that makes it seem more real, and yeah, Dean’s not ready to face that yet. He’d rather just ignore it and never mention this… _cuddling_ ever again.

Thankfully, Cas is speaking again before Dean can even worry about what to reply. “I hope you enjoyed last night, Dean. It was much more bearable not being by myself.”

“Uh, yeah, I had a good time.” Dean tells him. It was strange, sure, but not a bad experience once he’d gotten over the shock. It’s not something that Dean would choose for a career, but he sees the appeal, at least. “Kinda weird to see how famous you are, man. You’re like, A-list.”

Cas lets out a breathy laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s a nice compliment.”

“D’you like it?” Dean asks. “Being famous?”

“It has its perks. It’s nice to have fans, and I enjoy acting. The only downside is the lack of privacy, I suppose.” Cas confides. “Not that I have much to hide.”

“Not much?”

“Every man has secrets, Dean.” Cas says, non-committedly. He pauses, shifting hesitantly. “Talking of secrets…”

Dean squeezes his eyes shut, stiffening. He knows exactly what Cas is getting at. “Cas, we don’t need to talk about this.”

Cas’ thumb begins stroking Dean’s back once again, and Dean relaxes almost immediately.

“Alright, we won’t.” Cas says softly. They’re silent once more, and Cas’ thumb never ceases.

“Room service!” Someone calls through the door, and the moment is broken. Cas moves away, and Dean hates the empty, cold feeling that comes with his departure.

 _It was nice while it lasted_ , he thinks.

They’re twenty minutes from Dean’s apartment when his cell phone rings, the caller ID reading ‘ _Mom calling_.’

Heart clenching, Dean answers. “Hello? Mom? Is Riley okay?” Cas watches him, concerned.

“ _Riley is fine, honey_ ,” Mary assures, “ _Physically anyway_.”

Dean relaxes a fraction. “What do you mean?”

“ _Gabriel might have let it slip what you were up to last night.”_ She says hesitantly. Dean should have guessed that no good could come from having his whole family together without him there to mediate. “ _We had to show her a few videos from the premier, I hope you don’t mind.”_

“It’s fine, mom,” Dean tells her. He gestures to Cas that everything is fine with Riley, and the man relaxes in relief against the leather seat. “What’s the problem?”

“ _The problem is that she’s jealous.”_ Mary’s voice is full of amusement. “ _And angry, or as angry as six year olds can get, I suppose. Anyway, she doesn’t want me to take her home. She wants you and Cas to come pick her up.”_

Dean runs a hand through his hair, exhaling. He knows that taking Cas with him to get Riley will end up in them being forced to join the rest of them for lunch at mom’s, or Riley making Cas hang out with them all day even though Cas probably wants to go home to sleep off his hangover. 

“Are you sure you can’t get her to go with you?” Dean asks. The original plan had been for Cas to drop Dean off at the apartment, and then for Mary to drop Riley off after.

 _“She’s adamant, Dean.”_ Mary says. Dean suspects it’s not just Riley that wants them there; he’s sure that his mom is eager to meet Cas for herself.

“Mom, I can’t just-” He cuts himself off, glancing at Cas before squeezing his eyes shut. “Alright, we’ll be there soon.”

 _“Great_!” Mary replies, a little too excitedly. “ _See you then, honey!_ ”

Dean hangs up and slides the phone in his pocket, turning to Cas.

“Is everything alright?” Cas asks, brows drawn together.

“Just your brother being your brother.” Dean sighs, sliding down in the seat to get more comfortable. “Riley’s jealous that we went to the premier without her, and she wants both of us to go and pick her up from my mom’s to make up for it.”

Cas’ frown deepens, but now his expression is one of confusion instead of concern. “So what is the problem?”

Dean blinks at Cas for a moment, before shrugging slowly. “Nothing, I guess.” _If Cas sees nothing wrong with this situation, then neither do I._

Dean leans forward and tells the driver his mom’s address quickly.

“Perhaps next time we can take Riley with us, depending on the type of movie.” Cas muses, turning his head away to look out the window thoughtfully. “Angelina Jolie often brings her children to premiers, so I’m certain there’s no rule against it.”

Dean’s heart squeezes in his chest at the words- the way he says it sounds as though Cas thinks of Riley as his own child, but that would be crazy. Dean’s probably just projecting or something. Right? Because alphas don’t just accept other alpha’s children as their own; they just _don’t_. Especially when they’re not even dating said child’s parent.

“She’d love that.” Dean replies, not giving him a straight answer.

Cas smiles at him in reply, his eyes lit with excitement and happiness, and Dean’s heart melts even more.

When they pull up outside Mary’s house, a light yellow painted bungalow with a large yard in the front surrounded by a white picket fence, they’re greeted with the sight of Riley and Krissy on the swingset out front. Mary, Sam, and Gabriel are sat on the bench swing on the porch, nursing lemonades.

Dean knows they’re there waiting for him and Cas, because he can’t even remember the last time they’d all sat in the front yard like that.

“Uh, if you, want to go home, or something, you can.” Dean tells Cas before they get out of the car.

“Why would I go home?” Cas simply answers, opening the door and sliding out. Before Dean even realises what’s happening, Cas is rounding the car and opening Dean’s door for him.

 _Charlie is going to have a field day when I tell her about all of this,_ Dean thinks. It’s almost a storybook, typical, romcom date. The only way that this whole weekend can get any date-ier is if Cas lights some candles and serenades him.

Cas smiles at him as he gets out of the car, and Dean can’t find it in himself to be annoyed at Cas for treating him like some fourteen year old girl on her first date.

“You can wait here.” Cas instructs the driver before he shuts the car door.

Unlike Dean expects, Riley stays on the swingset as he and Cas walk up the path to the porch, head turned away. Usually she would have pounced on him the second he’d gotten out of the car, but it’s obvious that she’s angry at him.

“Dean,” Mary says warmly, standing up and pulling her son into a hug. “Are you going to introduce me to your new friend?” She stresses the word friend, making Dean blush at the implication.

“He’s Gabe’s brother, why can’t he introduce him?” Dean replies petulantly.

“I’m not the one who he took on a romantic celebrity getaway.” Gabriel snorts from the bench.

Dean rolls his eyes. “Mom, Cas, Cas, mom. Happy now?”

“I might be, but your daughter isn’t.” Mary says, shoving Dean to the side lightly so she can get to Cas, and pulls the other man into a tight hug. “It’s nice to meet you, Cas.”

“Same to you, Mary.” Cas replies. Mary asks him something, but Dean doesn’t stick around to listen; instead walking over to the swingset. He sits down on the empty swing beside Riley, who huffs and sticks up her nose.

“Hi, sweetheart.” Dean says, testing the waters. He fully expects a dramatic, snarky answer, like ‘ _Hi, traitor’_ or ‘ _Nice of you to show up_ ,’ in return, but gets something else entirely.

Riley dives off of the swing and into Dean’s lap, eyes wet. “Why did you lea-lea-leave m-me?” She hiccups, burying her face in the crook of Dean’s neck. Krissy gets off her own swing and walks over to her parents, giving Dean and Riley seclusion to talk.

Dean’s heart aches as he wraps his arms around Riley, hugging her tight. “I’m sorry, Ry.” He says, stroking her hair gently. He doesn’t really know what to say- he can’t just promise to take her with them next time, because there probably won’t _be_ a next time.

“I want to go with you and Cath!” She continues, and Dean’s helpless to do anything but hold her while she cries. If he could turn back time, he’d totally take her with them, but for now, there’s nothing he can do.

“I’m sorry.” Dean repeats softly. “Me ‘n Cas just wanted to hang out, okay? Next time we can all hang out together.”

“Ith he your mate?” Riley asks, pulling back to look at Dean properly.

Dean swallows, glancing at Cas, who’s in an animated conversation with his mom, before looking back at Riley. “No.”

“Then you have no excuthe.” Riley states, crossing her arms. “It’th not like you even need privacy with Cath when you’re jutht friendth.”

“You’re right.” Dean says. “The next time I hang out with Cas, you can come with us.” He promises, and Riley nods, seemingly satisfied. She climbs off of Dean’s lap and grabs his hand, pulling him up. There’s a sneaky look on her face as she pulls Dean over to Cas and Mary.

Riley drops Dean’s hand and goes over to Cas, leeching to his side and wrapping her arms around his hips, doe eyes looking up at him. Cas stops talking to Mary and smiles down at Riley instead, running his long fingers through her hair gently.

“Hello, Riley.” He says, voice full of warmth.

“Cath, daddy thaid next time you hang out I get to come too.” Riley tells him, and Cas listens earnestly to what she has to say. “Or maybe daddy can wait here with gramma while _we_ hang out.” She offers cheekily.

Cas smiles, removing himself from Riley’s arms and crouching in front of her so that they’re eye-to-eye. “That sounds enjoyable, but I don’t think your daddy would like it if we did that. He’d probably cry all day.” He winks conspiratorially.

Riley giggles. “We could go to a bee farm.” She suggests, undeterred.

“Watch out, Dean, or Riley might just steal Cas right from you.” Mary laughs, eyes full of fondness as she watches her granddaughter interact with Cas.

“Maybe we can jutht share.” Riley says.

“I think that’s a very good idea.” Cas tells her. “Next time we can all do something together.”

“I wanna go to the park.” Riley suddenly says, turning back to look at Dean. “Can we go to the park, daddy?”

Dean frowns. “Right now?”

“I wanna hang out with Cath.” She replies adamantly.

Dean can’t even find it in himself to say no, even though he’s tired, hungover, and would much rather just go and nap. “Sure, we can go to the park.”

“Will you come with uth, Cath?” Riley turns, batting her eyelashes at the man.

“Of course.” He answers seriously. “My driver can take us whenever you want.”

“Driver?” Riley gasps. “Like printhetheth have drivers to take them to ballth?”

“I suppose so, yes.”

Riley squeals, jumping up and down, before hugging Cas tightly. Cas smiles over her shoulder, hugging her in return. It makes Dean’s heart hurt to watch them; to watch Riley and Cas get along so well when he knows that Cas is leaving soon, and that Riley’s going to be heartbroken.

Cas pulls away from the hug and stands up, and Dean realises he’s been staring at the man this whole time. He quickly averts his eyes, thinking no one had noticed; but when he glances at his mom, it’s obvious she had. She watches Dean with a knowing glint in her eye, left eyebrow raised. Mary’s always been able to tell exactly what he’s thinking, like some weird mother/son telepathy; and Dean knows that she can probably see right through him right now.

She can probably see the massive crush Dean’s starting to realise he harbors for Cas, and all he can do is hope she doesn’t say anything about it.

The next day, Dean and Riley are greeted with an unpleasant sight when they get back from school; three paparazzi sitting on the steps leading up to their apartment building.

They’re waiting for Dean and Riley.

“Daddy, who are they?” Riley asks, frowning. The paparazzi, three beta men, immediately begin taking pictures of them, flashes blinding their eyes. Dean grabs her hand tighter, pulling her away from them.

“They work for magazines, sweetheart. They want pictures of us.” Dean tells her. For a while he’d been denying the fact that Cas is famous, that their friendship would inevitably lead to this, but there’s no running away from it anymore.

Riley, not realising the attention is a bad thing, blows a kiss to the cameras. “I’m like Kim Kardashian, daddy!”

 _I_ knew _Gabriel had been watching Keeping up with the Kardashians with Riley_ , Dean grumbles.

“Where’s your other daddy, sweetie?” One of the paparazzi ask, flashing yellow teeth at Riley in an effort to look friendly.

“Yeah, where’s your mate, Dean?” Another asks, leering at Dean.

Dean knows they’re talking about Cas. “I don’t have a mate.” He says through gritted teeth.

“Bullshit,” The same guy says, “I know you’re banging Castiel Novak. We saw you at the premier.”

“Do you mind not using that language around my daughter?” Dean bites, just about refraining himself from adding an _asshole_ at the end.

The men laugh, and Dean decides he’s had enough. He pulls Riley away from them and up the steps, but the paparazzi are quick to block them.

“Get out of my way.” Dean growls.

“We will when you tell us about your relationship with Castiel.” One of them says, popping bubblegum right in Dean’s face. “And maybe pose for a few pictures. We gotta make a livin’ ya know?”

“I _said,_ get out of my way.” Dean repeats, placing a hand on the man’s shoulder and shoving him to the side. The man moves, but one to his right shoves Dean backwards in retaliation, making him stumble on the steps.

“Daddy, I’m thcared.” Riley whimpers, clutching to Dean’s arm.

Dean quickly picks her up, trying to quell his furiousness at the paparazzi as he soothes her.

“Move out of our way or I’m calling the police.” Dean warns them.

“Police won’t do nothin’.” The one on the left snorts.

“Oh yeah?” Dean asks, stepping closer. “Well, I will, then.” He states, before shifting Riley to his left hip and swinging back with his right arm, punching the man in the face. All three paparazzi reel in shock, and Dean takes the opportunity and pushes past them, quickly running inside the building and into the elevator.

“Daddy, you punched him.” Riley states, looking shocked.

“He deserved it.” Dean answers, holding Riley closer. He’d heard horror stories about how bad paparazzi were, but never imagined it could be this bad. Dean could have fallen down the steps when the beta had shoved him; could have injured both him _and_ Riley. That, more than anything, angers Dean. He would have done a lot more than punch if they had even looked at her badly.

“I didn’t like them,” Riley sniffs, resting her forehead on Dean’s shoulder. “They were thcary. I don’t want to thee them again.” 

Dean doesn’t reply. He knows what he has to do to get the paparazzi to never bother him again; break ties with Cas and not be friends with him.

He doesn’t want to do that. Every fibre of his being is telling him not to do that, but if it means keeping Riley safe, it doesn’t matter what Dean wants.

He has to do it.


	8. Chapter 8

A few hours later, when Riley is in bed fast asleep and Dean is trying to catch up on Dr Sexy, someone starts frantically knocking on the door. Or rather, banging.

“Dean! Dean!” Someone calls through the door, and Dean knows it’s Cas. He sighs, running a hand down his face before going to let him in.

The second Dean opens the door Cas is on him, cupping Dean’s face with both hands, eyes frantically searching over Dean’s body as if looking for something.

“Are you okay?” Cas asks, voice higher than usual.

Dean frowns, forcing himself to step back and away from Cas’ touch. “Peachy. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I heard what happened with the paparazzi, Dean,” Cas says, closing the door. “The tabloids are all saying that my apparent ‘new mate’ had a _fistfight_ with the paparazzi while his six year old daughter stands and watches.”

Dean exhales roughly, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I only punched the guy because he wouldn’t let me and Riley go past.”

“But are you okay? Did they touch you?” Cas steps closer. “Do I need to sue someone?”

“I’m fine, Cas.” Dean says coldly.

“Dean, I’m sensing animosity.” Cas says, tipping his head to the side in confusion. “Have I angered you?”

Dean can’t hold it in any longer. “All of this is your fault, Cas! Without you, none of this would have happened!” Dean yells, hoping that Riley is sleeping too deeply to be woken up by it. “Riley was terrified, and I just know that if I hang out with you anymore, the paparazzi won’t stop.”

Cas’ eyes widen. “What- are you- what are you saying, Dean?” He asks quietly.

“I’m saying that I-” His voice breaks, and Dean looks away, swallowing. “I’m saying that I need to put my daughter first. We can’t be friends anymore, Cas.”

“Dean, I-” Cas comes closer, but rethinks and steps back once more. He looks as though he’s on the verge of tears, lips pressed together tightly. “ _Please_ , Dean, I- you can get a restraining order against them, or, or, I’ll hire you a bodyguard, or _ten_ bodyguards-” He breaks off, breathing in deeply as if trying to collect himself. “I don’t want this to affect Riley as much as you do, Dean, but don’t let some paparazzi abominations control your life.”

Dean suddenly can’t breathe, the lump in his throat too big, choking him. “I’m sorry, Cas.” He says, more of a broken whisper than anything. “You- you should leave.”

“Dean-”

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Cas.” Dean mutters, turning around and walking back into the living room. A few seconds later he hears the front door bang shut, and Dean knows that Cas has gone.

 

Dean doesn’t know why he’d agreed to this.

Lisa, the alpha from the bar that Dean had sort of forgotten, had called him, asking if he, along with their kids, wanted to hang out.

He should have said no, but alas, here he is; and now he has to live with the regret.

“This is fun, huh?” Lisa says, voice too chipper to be authentic. Ben and Riley both ignore her from the opposite side of the diner booth.

It’s not like he doesn’t like Lisa. She’s nice, friendly, and hot as hell, but there’s something missing, and he doesn’t know what.

Riley seems to share the discomfort, because she isn’t even trying to play nice with Lisa or Ben. Or Dean, for that matter- she’d been annoyed at him ever since he’d told her they couldn’t hang out with Cas anymore.

“Maybe this was a bad idea.” Dean mutters to Lisa under his breath after Ben and Riley start arguing for the fifth time.

“We should have just met up without the kids.” Lisa agrees light-heartedly, picking at her fries. “Maybe we can just pretend they’re not here.” She winks.

“Stop stealing my ketchup!” Ben yells, elbowing Riley and taking the ketchup from her.

“It’th _my_ ketchup!” Riley shouts back, grabbing the ketchup and starting a game of impromptu ketchup tug-of-war.

“I don’t think that’s possible.” Dean snorts to Lisa.

“Stop it!” Ben whines, jerking his arms back in an attempt to pull the ketchup away from Riley, but somehow ends up elbowing his basket of fries, sending them flying.

The two kids are shocked into silence, eyeing the fries that had landed on Lisa and awaiting the inevitable shouting.

Instead, Lisa bursts into laughter, and Dean joins a few seconds later. 

“Lis, you have, uh-” Dean gestures to her face, trying to stop laughing. He reaches forward and fishes a fry out of her hair, before running his fingers through it for a moment to get out the salt.

“Cath!” Riley suddenly squeals, and Dean freezes, heart in his throat. He turns his head slowly, and _yep_ , he has the worst luck ever.

Cas is standing awkwardly a few feet away along with Gabriel, and Riley’s jumping excitedly in front of him. Cas’ eyes are locked on Dean, though, or more specifically; Dean’s hand on Lisa.

“You know that guy, Dean?” Lisa asks, slightly protective.

Dean drops his hand, sighing. “Yeah, I do.”

He should have known this whole avoiding Cas thing wouldn’t work out.

Gabriel walks over, dragging Cas along with him. Riley slides back into the booth, a large grin on her face.

“I’m Gabe, Dean’s favorite brother in law.” Gabriel winks at Lisa. “This here’s my brother Cas.”

Lisa’s mouth gapes a little as she looks at Cas. “You’re… Castiel Novak.” She says.

Cas nods jerkily, not looking at her.

“Have you guys eaten?” Lisa asks then, looking excited. “Because if you haven’t, you could totally join us!”

Cas is about to decline when Gabriel jumps forward. “We’d love to!” He grins, elbowing Cas in the side when he starts to protest. Gabriel shoves Cas into the booth beside Dean, and then slides next to Riley.

Dean had thought the situation couldn’t get any more awkward, but apparently, it can. Now he has to endure having Cas pressed against his side as well as the tension _._

 _It definitely can’t get worse than this_ , Dean thinks to himself.

“Castiel, I loved you in _Pretty in Pink_.” Lisa tells him, flicking her hair behind her shoulder. “It’s my favorite movie.”

Cas shifts in his seat, as though he’s unsure of what to do with himself. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He says, smiling stiffly.

“Daddy, I thought you thaid we can’t hang out with Cath anymore?” Riley pipes up. Looking between Dean and Cas with confusion.

_Guess I was wrong!_

“I…” Dean swallows.

“So, you guys on a date?” Gabriel cuts across, wiggling his eyebrows. Dean doesn’t know whether to be glad that he didn’t have to answer Riley’s question or angry at Gabriel for asking the most awkward question he possibly could have in this situation.

Neither Dean nor Lisa answer, and apparently, both Gabriel and Cas take it as a yes.

Cas immediately stands up, fists clenched. “I need to leave.” He declares, before turning heel and storming out of the diner, not even bothering to check if Gabriel is following.

“Was it something I said?” Gabriel asks around a mouthful of fries he’d stolen from Riley.

“Where did Cath go?” Riley asks, trying to look over the back of the booth.

Dean sighs once more, running a hand down his face.

“Gotta admit, though, that was pretty funny.” Gabe continues. “I haven’t seen him that jealous since….well, ever.”

“Why are you still here?” Dean mutters. He needs a drink. Or eight.

“Why would Castiel be jealous?” Lisa questions.

Gabriel winks at her, before standing up. “Dean-o’s right. I should get going.” He says, stealing a few more fries before following Cas’ path out of the diner.

Riley turns back to Dean. “Why did Cath leave again, daddy?” She asks, tears welling up in her green eyes.

Jesus _fuck_.

For a second he considers telling her that she’d been imagining things, but he’s not that heartless. He can’t think of anything to say that’ll make sense to her, or make the situation any better, so he decides not to answer at all.

“We should go,” Dean says, giving Lisa an apologetic look. “Rain check?” He asks, because he might not _like_ like Lisa, but she’s a cool girl. Maybe they can hang out again, _without_ the kids, and without surprise visits from Cas.

“Sure,” Lisa grins. “Maybe just the two of us next time.” She squeezes his arm and places a kiss on his cheek before he leaves.

Riley doesn’t talk to him until the next day.

Dean spends the next week working, sleeping and spending time with Riley. It’s not different to what he did before he’d met Cas, but somehow it feels different now, empty; boring.

He doesn’t understand it. He loves spending time with Riley, and he loves his job, and he definitely loves sleep- so what’s his problem?

The cherry on top of the cake is that the paparazzi had found Cas’ vacation home, and had taken pictures of Cas with a pretty omega woman with dark hair and large eyes. Cas is all over the news and the internet, and like a train wreck, Dean can’t keep himself from looking at it all. Most of them are negative, saying that Cas is a bad person for dropping Dean like a hot potato and moving on to _Hannah_ just as quick as he’d found Dean.

Is Dean jealous? No, definitely not. He has no reason to be. He’s completely fine looking at all of these pictures of Cas hanging out with Hannah, going to lunch with Hannah, Hannah having sleepovers at Cas’-

Yeah, okay, fine. Dean is _slightly_ bothered. Whatever.

On Wednesday he goes out to lunch with his mom, and the first thing she says is: “What, no Cas? I was sure you’d bring him along. You two were attached at the hip last week!”

Maybe Dean should just get _‘Don’t mention Cas around me!_ ’ tattooed on his forehead.

“Yeah, that’s not a thing anymore.” Dean says. He orders a beer with his steak sandwich, even though he has to get back to work after this.

“What did you do?”

Dean frowns at his mom. “What did _I_ do? Why is it my fault? Who says that Cas didn’t do anything?”

Mary gives him a pointed look.

“Fine, okay,” Dean sighs, “Maybe in this case it _was_ my fault, but it’s not always, jeez.”

“You want to talk about it?” Mary asks, her voice gentle. It may have sounded like a question, but Dean knows it’s more of a demand.

“Da- It was just too crazy, mom.” He says, biting his tongue. He’d almost said ‘ _dating a celebrity is just too crazy’_ , for god’s sake. He hadn’t even been dating Cas! His brain is totally running in its own lane right now.

“It didn’t seem to be too crazy last week.”

“Yeah, and last week my daughter wasn’t terrified by paparazzi and having to watch her dad deck someone.”

“I just think you were waiting for any excuse to end it.” Mary states. Dean begins to protest, but she shushes him. “You’re scared to get close to people, Dean, and you always have been, but you don’t need to be scared of Cas.”

“Why would I _want_ to end it?” Dean asks. “It wasn’t Cas that was the problem, mom, it was the paparazzi.”

Mary scoffs. “That’s too easy of an answer, Dean. Other people are friends with celebrities, date celebrities and mate celebrities all the time. I’m not saying it’d be easy, but there are solutions. You could get security, move to a different house, get a restraining order...”

“That’s what Cas said.” Dean sighs, and yeah, okay, maybe he did take the easy way out. Something always goes wrong in his relationships, the other person always leaves, and Dean supposes he’d wanted to be the one to end it, this time, instead of getting hurt again. “I don’t want to force Riley into that life,” He says, then. It’s his biggest, and probably only, problem with the whole thing. “Having to grow up in the spotlight without any say in it.”

Mary smirks. “Sounds like you’re planning on keeping Cas around for a long time.”

Dean smacks his palm against his forehead. _Freudian slip, much?_

“Relax, Dean.” Mary smiles, reaching across the table and squeezing his hand. “You act like I didn’t already know that you have a gigantic crush on the man.” She winks. “I don’t blame you. He’s quite a hunk.”

“Ew, mom,” Dean groans, making Mary laugh. They don’t say anything else for a few moments, both of them eating, until Dean can’t take it any longer. “What do you think I should do?”

Mary thinks for a moment, placing her fork down onto the table. “I think that if you want Cas, then you want him, fuck everything else.”

“But what about Riley?”

“I think you’re hurting her more by keeping her away from Cas than you would be any other way.” Mary says, and Dean has to agree. It’s probably his fault- he shouldn’t have let Riley get so attached to him in the first place- but there’s nothing he can do about it now.

“I guess.” Dean sighs, taking a sip of his beer. He can’t talk about this for any longer, so he decides to change the subject. “How’s gardening coming along?”

On Friday, things change once again. He’s been invited to a big party at the Roadhouse, and he knows Cas has been invited, too. He’ll probably bring Hannah, and it’ll be one big awkward-fest.

Dean invites Lisa to come along with him. He tells himself it’s because he wants to spend time with her again, to try and make things work between them, but he knows that’s not the case.

If Cas is bringing a date, then Dean needs to have one, too. Unfortunately, though- Lisa has to cancel at last minute because Ben is sick and she doesn’t want to leave him, and now Dean is dateless.

 When Dean gets to the Roadhouse, though, he’s greeted by an amazing sight that immediately cheers him up: Jo Harvelle.

“Joey!” He calls the second he sees her, and she turns from the bar and immediately runs towards him, and throws herself onto him. Dean grips her back in a tight hug, whirling her around. “Damn, why did no one tell me you were coming back?” He asks once he sets her down.

“It was a surprise!” She exclaims. She’d been gone for a while after joining the army in her father’s footsteps, and Dean is so, _so_ glad to see her back home and safe.

“How long are you here for?” He asks, hoping it’s more than a short leave.

“I’m going back tomorrow.” She says seriously, and Dean’s heart falls. Before he can start complaining, Jo starts grinning once more. “Kidding! I’m back forever!”

Dean gapes. “Are you- seriously?”

Jo nods quickly, and Dean pulls her into another hug.

“Charlie’s gonna be so glad,” Dean tells her. They’d all met in high school, and had been best friends ever since. Dean’s excited to have Jo back- especially in time to see Charlie have her pup. “What’re you gonna do now?”

Jo shrugs. “Who knows? I’m going with the flow for now.”

They speak for a while longer until an omega woman walks by them, and Dean immediately recognises her from the tabloids- it’s Hannah. She’s wearing a red dress, and she looks amazing, to Dean’s annoyance.

“Uh, is it a good idea for you to be checking out chicks when you have a boyfriend?” Jo asks from behind him.

Dean swivels around, frowning. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Jo’s face scrunches in confusion. “But- Gabriel said-”

Dean sighs. He’s literally going to murder that guy one day.

“Lemme guess. Told you my boyfriend was a dude named Cas?”

Jo nods. “Introduced me, too. Guy was cute,” She wiggles her eyebrows. Dean’s breath catches in his throat. He’d naively hoped that Hannah might have been here by herself.

“He’s here?” Dean asks.

Jo nods towards the other side of the room, and Dean follows her gaze to see Gabriel, Sam, Cas and Hannah sharing a table, all laughing at something that Hannah had said that Dean is sure is o _h so funny_.

“You okay there, laser beams?” Jo asks, amused.

Dean’s eyes widen as he looks between the table and Jo. “Huh? Oh, yeah- I, uh. Fine.” He says. “I gotta go, uh, piss. We should hang out next week sometime.”

Jo agrees, and Dean dashes off towards the bathroom. Unfortunately, to get to the bathroom, he has to walk right by the table of traitors. Or, two traitors, a Cas-stealer and Cas. He thinks he might have heard one of them calling to him, but by the time it’s registered in his mind, he’s already shutting the bathroom door behind him, head falling backwards against it as he exhales.

He wants to go home. He doesn’t want to watch Cas and Hannah probably making heart eyes at each other all night, or watch his own brother and brother-in-law hang out with stupid Hannah and laugh at her stupid jokes and talk about how Hannah will be their new stupid sister-in-law.

Dean sighs, shaking his head as if it’ll somehow magically sort out his thoughts. He decides to go back out there, have a few drinks, and then he can go home. He doesn’t have to even look in Cas or Hannah’s direction all night, and he’ll be fine.

“Hey, Ellen,” Dean greets his aunt when he finally finds the strength to leave the safe haven of the bathroom.

“Dean,” Ellen says warmly, reaching over the bar to pull him into a quick hug. “I take it you saw the good news?” She asks, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and pouring some for Dean, even though he hadn’t ordered one yet.

“Yup,” He grins, taking the tumbler from Ellen. “Pretty great, huh? Bet you cried like a baby when she got home.”

“You freaking bet I did! I can finally stop worrying that I’ll get the dreaded visit for a second time.” Ellen says, and Dean winces. Ellen’s own husband had died when he’d been in the army, so Jo leaving had been a source of worry for her for a long time. “You better hope that Riley never wants to join.”

Dean thinks that if Riley chose to do that, he’d probably sign up with her, and be her personal bodyguard the whole time. “Yeah, hopefully she’ll choose a safe job, like a writer or book store owner or something.” He snorts.

“You shoulda seen your brother when he saw Jo,” Ellen says, leaning in closer with a grin on her face, “He was bawling like a baby.”

Dean burst into laughter, because he doesn’t even need to imagine it to know what that looked like. He’d cried when Jo had left, too, and Dean had ribbed him about it for weeks. (Dean had the sense to not cry until he got home.)

“Well, you know Sammy. He’s a damn crybaby. He even cried at the notebook. Who the hell cries about old people dying? Old people die all the time!”

Ellen slaps him upside the head. “You better cry when I die, boy.”

“I’ll think about it,” He winks.

“That’s a change.” A voice says from behind him, and Dean turns to see Gabriel sidling up to the bar. “Four more beers, my good lady!”

Dean wonders if he could spit in the beer meant for Hannah without anyone noticing.

“That brother of yours is looking good tonight, Gabe.” Ellen says, half-joking as she gets out the beers.

 _Hannah thinks so, too,_ Dean grumbles. You’d have to be blind not to think that.

“Duh, he’s related to me.” Gabriel smirks. “I’ll past on the compliment, though I don’t think he’d be interested. His heart’s already taken.”

Dean jerks, knocking over his whiskey, the last part that he hadn’t drank spilling out onto the bar. _His heart’s already taken?_ Is Cas already that invested in Hannah? Is Cas in love with her?

Are they gonna get _mated_?

Dean is going to vomit, right here, right now, all over this bar. Ellen will make him clean it up himself, sure, but he’d rather do that than listen to Gabriel talk about how much Cas loves Hannah.

“Clumsy, much?” Gabe tuts, looking at Dean knowingly.

“Shuddup.” Dean growls. Ellen hands him a rag, and Dean quickly wipes up the spilled drink so that it doesn’t get sticky on the surface. “Damn, I need a fuckin’ refill.”

“What you need is to soap out your mouth, Dean-o!” Gabriel taunts. Dean knows that Gabe’s just fishing for a reaction, wanting to make him angry, but Dean isn’t going to rise to the bait.

“Don’t you have a mate to get back to?” Dean bites back as Ellen slides him a new glass of whiskey, which he quickly takes a large gulp out of.

“Yep, unlike you.” Gabe wiggles his eyebrows.

“Gabe-” Dean begins, voice dark; a warning.

Gabriel throws up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay! Big, growly, scary omega, I get it.” He grabs the four beers, standing up. “You should come sit with us.”

Dean snorts in lieu of a reply, drinking more whiskey instead.

“Let me rephrase.” Gabriel says, voice hard. “Come sit with us, or I’ll bill you for all the ice cream you’ve ever eaten at my store.”

“No.” Dean replies.

“I’ll tell Riley where babies come from.”

Dean shrugs. “Saves me from having to do it.”

“I didn’t want things to go this far,” Gabriel sighs behind him. “But if you don’t come, I’ll tell Cas that I caught you jerking off to one of his movies.”

Dean slams the whiskey down onto the bar. “Fine, you fuckin’ dick, I’ll come. For five minutes. And then I’m going home and moving to Alaska.”

Gabriel grins anyway, knowing he’s won. Dean reluctantly follows him across the bar and to the table, dragging a chair from nearby and placing it between Sam and Gabriel’s chairs. There is no way in _hell_ that he’s sitting next to Cas or Hannah.

“Nice of you to show up,” Sam tells him, taking a beer from Gabe.

“Shut up, crybaby.” Dean replies, trying to make light of the situation and seem like he’s totally okay with this whole thing, and that he’s cool, and calm, _and_ breezy. He’s basically a cucumber with how cool he is right now.

“I didn’t cry! It’s allergy season!” Sam defends, and both Dean and Gabriel snort in disbelief.

“Sure, Sammy.” Gabriel says, rolling his eyes. This starts a bickering session between the both of them, and Dean takes this time to sneak a glance at the couple across the table.

He regrets it immediately. Cas and Hannah are both staring directly at Dean, not saying a word. Hannah’s gaze is curious and measuring, while Cas’ is more guarded, hesitant.

Dean’s skin feels itchy with both of them looking at him. “Uh, take a picture, it’ll last longer.” He says, more to Hannah than Cas. Both of them immediately flush, looking away.

“I apologise,” Hannah is the first to speak. “I’m Hannah.” She reaches out a skinny hand across the table, and Dean gives her a short wave in response, making her awkwardly retract her hand.

“Hello, Dean.” Cas says, then, a little hesitantly, and Dean knows he’s worried about what his reaction will be. Cas probably thinks that Dean will start yelling again, or will walk away, or something.

“Hey.” Dean replies, voice tight.

Neither of the three of them say anything else, leaving them to awkwardly sit there while they listen to Sam and Gabe’s conversation. Dean’s debating the likelihood of sneaking away without Gabriel realising when Hannah finally speaks up.

“Cas, it’s nearly ten,” She says, doing something on her phone. “We should go home.” She stands up, handing Cas’ jacket to him.

Cas makes a face, but agrees anyway, and that’s Dean’s tipping point. Watching them planning to go home together, Hannah telling Cas what to do so casually, their comfort with each other, knowing that they’re probably gonna go home and fuck- it’s all too much for Dean.

He stands up from the table suddenly, attracting the attention of everyone at the table.

“You going with them, Dean bean?” Gabriel asks, smirking up at him.

“I’m not really in the mood to voyeur.” Dean snaps, downing the rest of his whiskey and putting the tumbler on the table.

“Voyeur?” Hannah asks, sounding confused, but Dean ignores her.

“See ya.” Dean mutters, turning around and storming out of the bar. He’d wanted to say goodbye to Jo, but he’ll just meet up with her next week to make up for it.

“Dean!” Someone calls after him, but Dean ignores that, too. He realises once he gets outside that he’ll have to walk home, seeing as he was meant to get a ride with Sam.

With an angry sigh, Dean begins walking down the sidewalk, hands stuffed into his pockets. He hates that he’s done this, made things so awkward. If the party had been last week, it would have probably been fun; he and Cas would have hung out, and Dean could have introduced him to Jo, and they could have ordered weird cocktails and make get Ellen annoyed with them.  

He wants Cas back, he finally realises, but now he’s blown it. Cas is happy with Hannah, and it’s Dean’s fault for being an idiot. Like usual.

“Dean!” Someone calls again, and Dean recognises it as Cas. He quickly contemplates hiding in some alley, but Cas would have probably seen him, so all Dean can do is keep on walking, and hopes that Cas changes his mind before he runs over.

He doesn’t.

“Dean!” Cas yells again, and Dean sighs, and stops walking. He waits for Cas to run up to him, not turning around.

A few seconds later Cas appears in front of him, hair dishevelled. “Dean.” He breathes, seemingly surprised that Dean had waited.

“What?”

“I- why did you run out?” Cas asks, and Dean can tell it isn’t the question that Cas really wants to ask.

“Why would I stay? So I can watch you and Hannah be all lovey-dovey together?” Dean snaps, and yeah, okay, maybe he’s exaggerating a little, but who cares?

Cas frowns, tipping his head to the side. “We’re siblings, Dean, and she is my assistant.” He says, and Dean gapes. Now that he thinks about it, he can see the resemblance; both of them have dark hair and large, blue eyes.

He’s an idiot.

“Oh.” He replies, eloquent as ever. “I thought…”

“You thought she was my girlfriend.” Cas surmises. A smile begins growing on his face as he realises something. “You were jealous. You thought she was my girlfriend and that made you jealous.” He states, not having to ask because he knows it’s true.

“Shut up.” Dean says, averting his eyes, but there’s no bite behind his words. “Gabriel said your heart belonged to someone, and all the tabloids are saying she’s your girlfriend, what am I supposed to think?”

“You could have asked me, Dean.”

“Well, we weren’t exactly on speaking terms.”

“Weren’t?” Cas asks, and the smile is back in full force. “Past tense?”

“Look, Cas, I’m sorry. I panicked.” Dean sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t want us to not talk. We had fun together, and Riley misses you a lot.”

Cas grins lopsidedly. “Just Riley?”

“No, not just Riley.” Dean says seriously, and at that, Cas pulls him into a sudden hug, and Dean immediately relaxes into it. It's barely been a week and Dean's already missed this.

“Does this mean we can be friends, now?” Dean asks once they’ve finished hugging. 

Cas hesitates, looking away thoughtfully. “No.” He answers after a moment.

Dean freezes, heart in his throat. “What?” He stammers.

“No,” Cas repeats, turning to look at Dean, and their eyes lock. Cas’ gaze is intense when he says the next words: “Because I don’t want to be just friends with you, Dean.”


	9. Chapter 9

If Dean’s life had been a cliché romance movie, he would have fainted. Unfortunately, he doesn’t; he’s wide awake and Cas is waiting for a response and all Dean can do is stare at the other man, jaw hanging.

Cas starts frowning after a few moments, and Dean still can’t move. “Dean, are you alright?” He asks, concerned. “My intentions weren’t to make you uncomfortable, therefore I apologise if you are-”

“No, no,” Dean shakes his head quickly. “I’m just… surprised.”

“Good surprised? Or bad surprised?”

“I…” Dean pauses. “Good. I think.” The truth is, Dean doesn’t know how he feels about it. Sure, he likes Cas, and yeah, if Dean’s ever gonna get mated, Cas would be the best candidate, but still, he’s scared. He doesn’t trust alphas- never has, thanks to his dad. He doesn’t want to let himself fall for Cas just for him to leave, or decide he doesn’t want Dean, or find someone better.

 _No, Cas isn’t like that_ , Dean tells himself sternly.

“Does that mean… that you… want the same?” Cas asks him, slowly. There’s an edge of hopefulness to his voice, and Dean can’t find it in himself to break that hope. He’s going to put his fears aside, for once.

There’s still one thing they need to address, though. “What about Riley?” Dean asks, instead of answering Cas’ question. Riley is much more important to him than his own wants.

“I’m not sure I know what you’re asking.” Cas says, looking unsure.

“Well, uh, she’s not your kid, biologically,” Dean tells him, averting his eyes. “Aaron didn’t want to mate me because he didn’t want to father someone else’s kid.” It’s not like Dean thinks Cas is anything like Aaron- not at all. Already Cas has shown that he’s a lot more interested in Riley than Aaron ever was, and Dean doesn’t think that Cas would be so mean as to reject Riley, but he has to make sure.

“ _Dean_ …” Cas’ voice is tight. “I would never- I _love_ Riley, and if we were to mate, I would accept her as my own. I would never dream of hurting her, or you, _ever._ ”

Dean’s chest feels constricted, eyes burning at Cas’ words. It means more to him than anyone could ever imagine, that Cas accepts the both of them so wholly. Dean doesn’t think he’s ever felt so happy, so _wanted._

“Then… yes.” He says, voice shaky.

Cas tilts his head, looking confused for a moment until it clicks in his mind what Dean’s referring to, and then he’s beaming, smiling so widely that Dean can almost see all of the teeth in his mouth. Cas reaches for Dean’s hand, holding it gently in both of his own. “Are you sure, Dean?”

Dean rolls his eyes affectionately. “Do you need it in writing?”

“Well, some people do prefer to have mating contracts first-” Cas stops. “Oh. You were joking.” He chuckles a little. “I just want to make sure that this is something you want, one hundred percent. If it’s not, then feel free to tell me. I don’t wish to force you into anything.”

“Cas, trust me, you’re not forcing me,” Dean assures. “I want this just as much as you do.”

“Thank god.” Cas breathes, the smile on his face almost blinding. “Because if I’d had to see you with Lisa one more time I would have gone crazy.”

Dean smirks. “You were jealous!”

“I suppose we’re both guilty of that.” Cas says, looking sheepish.

“Guess we are.” Dean grins. “You wanna go home, now?”

Cas looks taken aback for a moment, before smiling widely once more, looking pleased. “Definitely.” He nods, grasping Dean’s hand tighter.

They walk back to Dean’s apartment with their hands linked and swinging between them, both of them looking at the other every once in a while, smiling before looking away.

“Riley’s gonna go crazy when she sees you here tomorrow.” Dean chuckles as he lets them into his apartment. Krissy is sat on the couch, watching _Ancient Aliens_.

Cas raises Dean’s hand to his mouth and kisses his knuckles softly before dropping his hand and disappearing into the bedroom. Dean quickly gives Krissy her money and sends her home, hoping she hadn’t noticed where Cas had gone. He’s not ready to face the gossip brigade, yet.

Once she’s gone, Dean quietly dashes to his bedroom, and finds Cas buried under his green comforter. Dean quickly takes off all of his clothes except for his boxers and slides into bed beside Cas.

“I could get used to this.” Dean sighs contentedly as Cas pulls him into a warm embrace. It’s even better than it had been after the premier, because now Dean isn’t drunk, and he can feel everything that’s happening, and it’s _amazing._

“I already have.” Cas mumbles in reply. He places a soft kiss in Dean’s hair, and neither of them speak after that.

There’s still a lot that they need to talk about, like whether Cas is going to move here from LA, and if they’re gonna get mated soon or wait to see if they’re really, _really_ sure, and if they want to get married as well or just mated, and if they want more kids, but those discussions can wait until later.

They have all the time in the world.

The next morning, Dean is still glued to Cas, basically hugging, when he’s woken up by Riley shrieking.

Panicking, he quickly disentangles himself from Cas and sits up, heart beating hard. Riley isn’t hurt, though, as he notices when he sees her standing in the doorway, she’s merely excited.

“Cath!” She squeals joyfully, running over and jumping onto the bed, pushing herself between Dean and Cas. “You’re here!”

Cas groans, moving to lie on his back, eyes squinting at Riley. He smiles softly when he sees her, and Dean’s heart clenches- Cas looks the most perfect like this, hair mussed up and face relaxed and happy. 

Riley climbs up onto him and sits on Cas’ chest, picking at the worn logo on his t-shirt. Dean realizes that it’s his favorite Led Zeppelin t-shirt- Cas must have stolen it last night.

“My daddy ith a liar, huh,” Riley says to Cas. “He thaid we weren’t allowed to thee you again but we’ve seen you _twithe_ already!”

“Yes, he’s a dirty liar.” Cas agrees, looking amused.

Dean rolls his eyes, moving to lie back down next to Cas. “You guys teaming up against me now?” Cas wraps his arm around Dean’s back, pulling him closer to him and Riley.

“Only when you’re being thilly, daddy.” Riley says.

“Ouch,” Dean jokes, putting a hand over his heart, wincing in mock-pain. “Well, you can ignore what I said about not seeing Cas, okay?”

Riley brightens immediately, beaming down at both of them. “For real?” She gasps. “I can hang with Cath whenever I want?”

“Whenever you want.” Cas vows.

Riley squeals again, clapping her small hands together, before stopping abruptly, eyes widening. “I need to do thomething!” She exclaims, climbing off of Cas and running out of the room.

“Do you think we should tell her we plan to be mated?” Cas asks once she’s gone, fingers absentmindedly tracing Dean’s side.

Dean turns to him, shocked. “We do?” He asks. Sure, he’d known that Cas liked him, but hearing that he’s already planning on mating him is just… unreal.

“I believe we are true mates.” Cas begins, unhesitant. He gives Dean that serious look he gives when he’s about to say something important. “I would be very honored if you were to let me be your mate, Dean. I don’t wish to have anyone else. What I feel for you is unlike anything I’ve experienced before, and I don’t think I will ever again.”

“…Oh,” Dean replies, overwhelmed, to say the least. Now that Cas had mentioned it, Dean thinks that they could be true mates. It’s not something he’d ever imagined for himself- had always thought of the concept as cheesy and something that would never happen to him. Experiencing it is different, though- it’s amazing and completely crazy at the same time, but more than that, it’s a feeling of _sureness_.

He knows that he doesn’t want anyone else other than Cas, either.

“Do you not agree?” Cas asks, though he doesn’t sound worried; like he knows Dean’s answer already.

“No, I do,” Dean assures, turning on his side to face Cas, who pulls Dean even tighter against him.

“I’m glad.” Cas whispers, and Dean notices that they’re faces are only inches apart, and how they could easily be making out right now. Cas seems to notice too, moving closer, their breaths mingling. Just when Dean thinks that it’s about to happen, Riley comes running back in.

Dean lets out a frustrated huff, turning his head away, but Cas looks happy to see Riley once more.

“Here, Cath,” Riley says as she climbs onto the bed once more, sitting on Cas’ stomach again. She hands him a pink envelope, _‘Cas’_ scrawled across it in blue glitter pen.

“Is this for me?” Cas asks, awed as he takes it from her. Dean can’t even tell if he’s pretending to make Riley happy or if Cas is actually pleased at the fact Riley is giving him something.

“Uh huh, open it!” Riley orders.

Cas fumbles with the envelope for a moment, trying to open it one handed so that he doesn’t have to move his other arm from around Dean. Once he gets it open, he pulls out the paper from inside and reads it.

Dean looks over his shoulder, and sees that Riley has written ‘ _To Cas, you’r invited to my te party at rite now o clock. plese come! Lots love from Riley xxx_ ’

“Will you come Cath?” Riley continues once she’s sure Cas has read it. “I won’t make you thit next to Mr Frog becauthe he’s a meanie to humanth but you can thit next to Captain America and Herculeth.”

“I would be privileged to come to your tea party, miss Riley,” Cas tells her seriously, kissing the invitation. “I’ll be there at eleven sharp.” He promises.

“Don’t _I_ get to come?” Dean asks, pouting at his daughter.

“Nope,” She grins in response. “You thmell too much, and Captain America told me you were rude to him latht time.”

Dean mock-gasps. “He is such a liar! That’s it. Tell him that next time his shield gets lost under the couch, it can stay there.”

Riley giggles, covering her mouth with her hands.

“I guess I’ll just go and make breakfast while you two party it up,” Dean sighs dramatically.

Riley pats him on the shoulder, giving him a small smile. “You do that, daddy.” She tells him, before running off once again, no doubt to set up her tea party table.

“When did I raise such a sassy daughter?” Dean snorts.

“It’s probably genetic.” Cas tells him.

“Shut up, I’m not sassy.”

“Yes, you definitely are. Snarky, too.”

“You’re snarky, mister snarky pants-”

“Cath!” Riley yells from the other room, cutting Dean off.

“Her highness awaits,” Dean tells Cas, waving a hand at the doorway. “You don’t have to hang out with her, y’know, if you don’t want to…” He continues. He remembers that Riley had asked Aaron to hang out with him once, and it had _not_ turned out well- Aaron hadn’t even liked her to begin with.

Dean really doesn’t know why he stayed with him for so long.

“What, so I can help you make breakfast? I’d much rather go to Riley’s tea party.” Cas jokes.

“You’re an asshole.”

“ _Your_ asshole.” Cas counters, untangling himself from Dean and standing up, pulling on a pair of Dean’s sweatpants. “See you later,” He tells Dean then, leaning in to kiss him on the lips for a total of three seconds before winking and leaving the room.

Dean sits in shock for at least five minutes before going to make breakfast.

A few days later, Cas and Dean are surprisingly not together. After spending almost every waking hour with each other since Saturday, this is a strange feeling to the both of them. Cas had even spent time with Dean while he was at work- forbbiding Dean from losing any more hours because of him but not wanting to lessen their time together, either. Cas had made a good assistant, Dean had decided, but mostly for aesthetic purposes. It had been nice for Dean to be able to have a conversation with someone while he worked and Benny was out on house calls. 

“So,” Cas says during a lull in their conversation. Cas has been working all evening, so Dean has to settle on a phone call to talk to him today. “I should probably remind you that I’m leaving in two days.”

Dean almost drops the cellphone. In the midst of everything, he’d forgotten that there’s a deadline on the time they have together.

“Oh,” Dean lets out, not knowing what to say.

“Yes, well, it’s a movie that I’m the lead in.” Cas continues, sounding strained, and Dean can tell there’s something that Cas isn’t telling him.

“Spit it out, Cas.”

“I have a love interest in the movie that I have sexual scenes with.” Cas tells him quickly, words coming in a rush. “Daphne Allen.”

Dean freezes. Of course it’s with _Daphne Allen_ ; the hottest omega in Hollywood, the ‘new Megan Fox’, and Cas is going to be up close and personal with her for _who knows_ how long.

They’re not even mated yet- Cas is free to leave whenever he wants. Is free to leave with _Daphne_.

“That’s great.” Dean says, voice void of any emotion. What else can he do? It’s not like he can tell Cas to not go, or to stay away from Daphne, or to get a different role. Dean doesn’t want to be _that_ omega.

“Is- you-,” Cas flounders, no doubt having expected Dean to respond differently. “You’re not… mad?”

“Why would I be mad? It’s not like we’re mated.” Dean says, voice sharp. “You can do whatever you want.”

“ _Dean_ ,” Cas replies sternly. “That is _not_ true. Just because we’re not mated doesn’t mean that I’d want to be with other omegas, or even look at them that way. We’re in a relationship, Dean. I don’t take that lightly.”

“Oh,” Dean repeats, feeling slightly better. _Slightly_. He still has to deal with missing Cas while he flounces around with other people. “How long will you be gone for?”

Cas hesitates before replying. “Three months.”

“ _Three months_?” Dean exclaims. He has to live without Cas for three whole months? _Riley_ has to live without Cas for three whole months?

“I know, I’m sorry.” Cas replies gently. “If there was any way I could stay here with you and Riley, I’d do it, but there’s not. I’ll visit whenever I can, I promise.”

Dean sighs. “It’s okay, Cas.” He knows how much Cas likes his job, and Dean doesn’t want to ruin that for him by making him feel guilty for leaving. He and Riley will just have to be patient, make the most of his visits and hope the three months go by quickly.

It’s weird how just a month ago he didn’t know Cas, and now Dean doesn’t want to live without the guy.

“Well, we’re shooting in Massachusetts, so I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to visit, but I’ll try my hardest.” He promises. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too.” Dean says quietly. “Do you want to… stay here tomorrow?” He blushes, realising how suggestive that sounds. “I could drive you to the airport the next day, and-”

“I’d love to,” Cas tells him, his happiness radiating through the phone.

“Okay.” Dean says back, trying to quell the butterflies in his stomach.

“I should probably get back to work,” Cas then says, sounding disappointed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Dean can’t wait.


End file.
